Where I End & You Begin
by meSOcoolxD
Summary: Sequel to Tangled Web We Weave. The gang is off to college and enjoying the summer. But what happens when that feeling doesn't go away, like any day Kyle's whole world could come crashing down? Can he fight it? Or will he let it take over him? Bryle.
1. Can You Deal?

Okay so this is the sequel to The Tangled Web We Weave. I didn't want you guys to forget about it, so I went ahead and got started on the first chapter. Nothing really has changed much, except the fact that James is a couple of months older, but that's about it. I'm starting the chapter in mid July when Nathan and Kyle are at basketball camp for the week.I know I said that things aren't really different, but like with the couples and stuff is the same, it's just that the couple mentality is a little off key than what it was in the first story. First of all, Jake and Jenny moved into Peyton's house for the summer, and then they're getting an apartment together when they get to Duke. Same goes for Nathan and Haley, with James. Both couples are extremely getting along good, no changes there. Then there's the main peeps, Brooke and Kyle. Things are going good between them, but Kyle refuses to talk about what was bothering him in the last chapter of the other story. It's been on his mind and in his dreams basically all summer. Brooke's trying to help him any way she can, but she can't help but think about it at least once a day what it could be. She just doesn't feel that she should bing it up because Kyle said he would talk to her and tell her when he figured it out. Rachel's doing good with her life and all that. Lucas comes to a stun  
ning conclusion that we'll find out later on and Mouth's growing up lol.

The whole number of chapters aren't going to keep on going for awhile like they did with the first story. It's just that I got this whole new idea fast forwarding a couple of years, so there's not going to be as many chapters as you might anticipate. And alot happens in each one so pay attention.

And stay on the watch for my other fics soon. I've been wrapped up and trying to get this one going that I've lost track of everything in my other stories. Enjoy and Review!!!

OTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTH

Chapter One: Can You Deal?

_He was walking on the street on the way to her house. Actually he was running as fast as he could. He had to get there as soon as possible, before it was too late_

_.It wasn't fair. Why did they always have to go after the people he loved the most? Why couldn't they just get him and be done with it? Come to think of it, they shouldn't even be after him, not after that night. It was all supposed to be over._

_Rounding the corner, he went into a sprint when he heard the banging of a door being knocked down. There was a black car in the driveway and his heart dropped. It couldn't be. Not again. Not after everything that had happened. It couldn't have been all for nothing.He only reached the stairs when he heard the gunshot."_

_KYLE!"_

He jumped up from his pillows, his breathing heavy and his heart thumping so fast that he thought that Nathan could've heard it from the other side of the room. Kyle felt the beads of sweat on his temples and his face cold. Kyle should've been used to it by now, but he wasn't. Each time the dream came, it was like he was getting closer and closer, but he stll didn't know. Know what, was more of the question.

"Kyle? You alright?" Nathan asked, standing in front of the foot of his bed.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Kyle said, trying to recover.

"If you say so," Nathan said, still staring at him. "Anyways, you might wanna get ready, we're supposed to be in the locker rooms in like, 20 minutes."

Kyle would be lying if he said that things weren't changing already. Just like he had thought, it had happened right before he knew it. Sure, it wasn't anything big, it wasn't even bad changes. They were all good, but maybe that was the point.

Just like he had thought, his face was pale and he had the look of someone that was so lost in himself. He didn't like to think about it unless he had to. There would be hours at a time when the thought wouldn't even occur. But then he would lay his head down to sleep, and it would come back at him like a whirlwind, like he was being punished for not even bothering to succumb to analyzation, his worse enemy.

But he wasn't supposed to be thinking about stuff like that. He should've been thinking about basketball. After all, he was at a basketball conditioning camp, for Duke of all colleges. He was the shooting guard, and frankly he couldn't afford to slip up at all.

Another thing he thought about alot was Brooke. So far they're relationship had been great. The summer was good and he couldn't have been happier. But he felt bad for not knowing what was bothering him, because then maybe Brooke could help him. He wanted her to be able to feel like she knew everything about him. But he didn't know.

Pulling on his basketball shorts and his practice jersey, Kyle thought about how many more days until he could go back home and just relax. He and Nathan hadn't realized just how much they had to be on top until they had got there. First day they were in the weight room, testing their strengths. Then they were on the court doing suicides and carrying 25 pound weights around the perimeter of the gym. Even when Whitey was pissed he had never worked them that hard. Nathan had pulled a muscle in his back, and Kyle's legs were like jello.

Lucas would've been there, if it hadn't been for his HCM, and Jake, well, Jake had other things to worry about other than basketball. It was weird being in a team with people you didn't really know, and having to gain that trust and teamwork would be hard.

"You think Coach is gonna put us in the weight room?" Nathan asked hopefully as he and Nathan made their way out of their room.

The basketball camp was stationed in this campsite. Basically, they tore down acres of land and built a basketball camp on it, completely with a gym, cafeteria, weight room, and dorm roms. It was enough for anyone to live there and be happy with it. Too bad that they barely had time to enjoy it.

"I sure hope so, I'd rather gain muscle then feel like shit," Kyle said, adjusting his eyes to the light.

"I'm with you there. I don't think I can take anymore suicides. I'm actually starting to slightly dislike basketball," Nathan said as he opened the door to the gym.

There were already a couple of guys already there shooting hoops. Kyle wasn't really familiar with them, or their names, all he knew was that they were apart of his team. He gave them a nod before going to the basketball rack to grab a ball.

"So you talk to Haley lately?" Kyle asked.

"Yeah I talked to her last night. I almost had to punch this one guy because he was on the phone too long," Nathan explained.

"Who was he talking to?""His mom," Nathan smirked. "So when's the last time you've talked to Brooke?"

"Yesterday after practice. She was shopping with Rachel or whatever," Kyle said, dribbling the ball between his legs.

"Things are going good with you two right?" Nathan asked, noticing something was off about his friend. Actually it was something that he'd been noticing ever since they got to camp. He seemed more to himself than he usually was. And every now and then he would hear Kyle talking in his sleep, and some nights jumping up like he'd had a nightmare.

"Yeah, everything's fine. It's just that I can't catch her at a decent time. She's always hanging out or doing something, that's all," Kyle said, not really wanting to have to talk about what he knew Nate wanted to know.

"Alright, you really need to stop lying to me," Nathan said. "I know you too well and too long for that."

Kyle sighed, "It's not that I want to lie, it's just I can't explain it. Plus you probably wouldn't know what I'm talking about anyway."

Nathan stopped bouncing the ball and held it on his hip, "Try me."

"Okay. It's been going on for awhie now. I keep having these, bad feelings that something's gonna happen. Like things are gonna get worse and things are gonna change, but not all for the best. And I have these dreams that something bad happens to Brooke. And it just keeps happening over and over again, but each night I have it, I get a little bit closer to what happens. I wanna tell Brooke, but I don't want her to be scared for me or for herself, so I told her that when I figured it out I would let her know. But honestly Nate, I don't know what I'm supposed to be running from."

Nathan sighed, "Well, I know more about it when you think. I had almost the same thing a couple of days before me and Haley's second wedding. I kept on dreaming that she was drowning, and I couldn't save her. Then when we left the reception, the limo Rachel had stolen ran into us, and we fell into the river, and it was like my dream."

"You think that's what's happening now?" Kyle asked. It all started to make sense. What if he was being warned? And was it something that he had to think seriously about?

"I really don't know. But I wouldn't take it lightly. If you're having these continuous dreams, then maybe it's something that you should look into."

-

"Okay Brooke this is completely ridiculous. I know you said you wanted to go shopping, but like, this is just wayy too much," Peyton commented as her and Brooke walked throughout the mall with bags and bags from just about every women's apparel.

"Alright, I thought we went over this already. I miss Kyle, and because I miss him I'm sad. So instead of being sad, I end up bored, and to stop being bored, I shop," Brooke said simply.

"Ugh, you're lucky you're my friend," Peyton said as they sat down at a table in the food court.

"I know," Brooke said brightly, but in reality she couldn't stop thinking about how sad she was without him, the one thing that was her downfall. She loved too easily and she gave way too much. Sometimes that was a good thing, but in this case, she wasn't sure if it was the right thing.

"Spill it," Peyton said shortly, leaning back in her chair.

"What are you talking about?" Brooke asked innocently, playing with the bottom of her shirt.

"Brooke, you gave me a cheery smile, and then you're face went into Wonderland, you're thinking about something," Peyton pointed out. Nothing ever got past her.

She sighed, "Fine, I was just miss Kyle."

"Dude, it's been like three days!" Peyton exclaimed.

"I know that," Brooke mumbled. "But it's just weird, he's like always around, and now he's not. I don't know, maybe I'm just being a baby about this."

"It's not as stupid as you think Brooke. You guys haven't been together that long. It's fine to miss him alot. Call him tonight and I bet you'll feel much better," Peyton explained.

"Maybe I'm just being too delicate with this," Brooke stated. "I mean, I've been hurt alot before, and this is kinda new to me. Like, I think I'm just being to dependant on him."

"I think you're over analyzing, again," Peyton said. "Just talk to him tonight, and you'll be good as new, trust me. Whenever Jake left all those times, I would just talk to him on the phone or something and I'd feel like we could withstand anything. You actually get to see Kyle, just in a couple of days. You miss him, he misses you. End of story."

"Whatever P.Sawyer," Brooke sighed. "So, why don't we get out of here so I can call my man?"

"Sounds good to me. I have to call mine too," Peyton smirked.

"Probably. But we both know you just wanted to get me out of here before I buy anything else," Brooke said, rolling her eyes.

"Nothing gets past you Brookie."

-

1 .. 2 .. 3 .. 4 .. 5 .. 6 .. 7 .. 8 .. 9 .. 10 .. 1 .. 2 .. 3 .. 4 .. 5 .. 6 .. 7 .. 8 .. 9 .. 10.2 sets of 10. Then 2 sets of 20. Then so on until he couldn't feel his arms anymore and the count off rang in his head throughout the night. Nathan was next to him, benching 240. No one was talking, it was silence. Every once in awhile there was an occasional grunt and a heavy sigh, or the clinking together of weights. But other than that, it was silence, and Kyle found himself liking it.Maybe Nathan was right. He was right to be concerned.

But maybe Nate was wrong. It was kind of ridiculous how these feelings had come out of nowhere. Ever since then it was consecutive and irritating. Either way, he would still have to look out for anything that was out of place, or just didn't feel right.Nothing had felt right lately. He was hanging out with the gang, being with Brooke and concentrating on basketball. Things weren't supposed to feel weird, like it wasn't right.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the loud whistle of Coach K's whistle. He blew it long enough for everyone to drop whatever they were doing, literally. One glance around the place and he returned to his office. Practice was over.

"Do you think we'll ever get to have a conversation with him?" Nathan asked as all the guys entered the locker room.

"I guess we'll whenever the season starts. I just can't wait to get home and away from this. A couple of days away from basketball and weights would do someone good."

"I'm with you on that. What are you gonna do the rest of the day?" Nathan asked as they both collided with the hot summer breeze.

"Uhh sleep," Kyle said bluntly. "And I gotta call Brooke sometime today also."

"I bet she's counting down the days until you come back," Nathan said jokingly.

"That's not a bad thing," Kyle said, collapsing on his bed.

"So," he began. "Have you and Brooke, like, you know, done it yet? You don't have to tell me, I was just wondering since it's been a couple of months and all."

Kyle looked at him, "Are you seriously asking if me and Brooke have had sex? Isn't that a little weird to you?"

"Yeah it's weird. But Haley asked me about it a week ago, and I was just thinking..."

"Woah wait, Haley asked you? What, is everybody wondering if we did it yet?"?

"No I don't think that. I mean, you know Haley, she thinks about the most personal stuff," Nathan said, trying not to sound too nosey.

"Well, if you want an answer then no, we haven't done it yet," Kyle said.Nathan sat on his bed and slipped off his shoes,

"You don't wonder why? Like, have you guys talked about it yet?"

He shrugged, "Not really. It's not really something we've really been concerned about. Just trying to be together was hard enough, I don't think we're in the right stage of our relationship to be talking about having sex."

Nathan nodded, "Yeah that makes sense. So, like, you're not like, sexually frustrated or something---"

"Nate just stop talking."

"Shutting up," Nathan said quickly. "I'm gonna go get something to eat. Want anything?"

"Uhh yeah just grab me a sandwich or something," Kyle said.

As soon as Nathan had left Kyle reached for the phone in the room. The camp was high class, real expensive, but everyone was still limited to only fifteen minutes on the phone. Wasn't exactly enough time to really talk, but who knows when he could have an actual conversation with Brooke. Training had been pretty mellow ever since they had gotten here, but the last couple of days were crucial to show the coaches exactly why he was here.The phone ringed for twice before Brooke's chipper voice came on the other line.

"Hello?"

"Hey."

"Boyfriend!" Brooke gasped, falling onto her couch.

"Whats up?"

"Oh nothing, just got home from the mall with Peyton."

"Why am I not surprised?" Kyle laughed.

"Well besides being with you shopping is the best, I had to have something to do until you get back," Brooke explained.

"Alright it's okay. As long as I'm the best."

"You have no idea. I miss you like, tons," Brooke groaned, playing around with her promise ring.

"I miss you too. Man, this whole basketball training thing is seriously kicking my ass. Like I'm so tired right now and I was only in the gym for a few hours," he explained.

"You love basketball, you're just a little tired of it. Just a couple of more days," Brooke said encouragingly. As much as she wanted him back home, she knew that this basketball thing had to work for him, and this camp was his chance to get the hang of it.

"Believe me, I'm counting down the days all the way down to the minutes. And I wanna get away from Nathan for a day or two," Kyle joked.

"What? Nate's getting a little too Dr. Phil on you or something? Because I know how that is," she said knowingly.

"No, no that's not it. Well, kind of, but he'd more nosey than anything."

"What's he saying?"

"Ehh nothing, just asking questions about me and you and stuff. It's not really a big deal, I was just kinda weirded out that he asked me that," Kyle said.

Brooke sat up with the phone in her hand, "It's not what I think it is, is it?"

Kyle winced over the phone, "What is it you think it is?"

"Oh my gosh, everyone's talking about us not having sex aren't they?" Brooke whined.

"Brooke, babe calm down it's not like that. He just asked me, and I told him that we weren't at the point where we need to think about that."

"God, nobody better ask me about it over here," Brooke said, completely oblivious to what Kyle had just said.

He rolled his eyes, "Anyways, moving on. Is there anything else going on back in Tree Hill?"

"Nothing really. Peyton's running something over by Karen about having a party when you guys get back. Kinda like a mid summer bash, just because we can," Brooke explained lightly.

"Then it's gonna be at Tric. Ehh I don't know, if we ever wanna get a drink we'd be better off having it at that old abandoned house like at grad night," Kyle said, remembering the shooting star.

"Eh we'll get to it when you and Nate get back, which by the way is three days away."

"It's gonna be hell I swear. It's crunch time tomorrow morning. Today was alright because we were just in the weight room the whole time."

"Hmm, how much did you bench today?" Brooke asked, trying to start up a different subject. Truth was Brooke couldn't care less, actually she didn't even know what she was talking about, only that she'd heard that phrase tons of times whenever two guys were sizing each other up.

"260," Kyle said, clearly knowing that she didn't know what she was asking.

Brooke smirked, "Hmm, I bet you're even hotter now, huh?"

"Davis, get your head out of the gutter," Kyle said.

"Aww babe I don't think that's possible, not until you come home that is."

"You need to stop talking about me coming home, because now I'm willing to like, escape now," Kyle said, listening to the rustle of feet and guys talking on their way to their rooms.

"That wouldn't be such a bad thing, except the fact that you're future in basketball would kind of be over."

"Yep, that would really suck," Kyle said quietly.

"Hey," she began. "So like, we really haven't talked about the whole thing that happened at the grad party. I mean, I don't mean to sound nosey or something, but you said you would tell me, and it's been a month already."

Kyle sighed, he knew it would come up sooner or later. She had done her best since then not to push it, and she had been successful, she hadn't bombarded him day in and day out. But now he knew that she would expect something from him, anything. She had waited long enough, and Brooke didn't do patience.

"I know, and I'm sorry for not knowing this sooner. But truth is, I still don't know what it is. I keep thinking about these things, and having dreams that I can't pick apart. Like I know the basis, but I don't know why or how or when."

"What are the dreams about?" Brooke asked.

"I don't know if it's best that I tell you over the phone, it would be a little bit weird."

"Why? It's not about me is it?"

"Brooke, how about we talk about it when I get back? I don't feel comfortable telling you right now," Kyle suggested, not wanting to talk anymore about it.

"If you say so. Listen, I have to run to the store for something, but I'll talk to you later alright?" Brooke said, getting up from the couch.

His eyebrows creased, "Okay, I'll just talk to you tomorrow."

"Love you," she said shortly.

"Love you too."

"Great, now I just scared her," he said to himself as he set the phone down on the receiver.

How could he possibly find his way out of it this time? Kyle considered making something up, anything to relieve Brooke of this fear and worriness. But he knew he couldn't. He couldn't lie to her.So what was there to do? Maybe he was over reacting, but maybe not. Kyle never really let things get to him, but this was just impossible to rid himself of.

"Hey, how was Brooke time?" Nathan asked, throwing a turkey sandwich wrapped in plastic wrap to him.

"Brooke time? It was alright. I was close to telling her about my dreams that I've been having, but I didn't want to scare her, so I said I would tell her when i got back, even though I don't even know if I wanna do that now," Kyle explained, suddenly losing his appetite.

"Well you gotta do it sometime. I have first experience in that," Nathan said.

Easier said than done. Sure, he could tell Brooke and get that weight off his chest. But things might never be the same. And even worse than that, Brooke might not want to be with him anymore, knowing that something might happen.

"You know, I think I better make some calls before I tell Brooke anything," Kyle said, already scrolling down his contacts list on his cell phone.

Nathan looked at him, "Calls to whom?"

"I've been trying for the whole summer to figure out if what I'm feeling is serious, or if I'm tweaked over nothing. When all along I was asking myself this question, I should've been asking someone else," Kyle said, finding the number he was looking for.


	2. Ain't No Other Man But You

**A/N: **Yeah so I already wrote this chapter like the other day, so Im just gonna go ahead and post it. Thanks for all the reviews also, and i understand if nobody's gonna look at it right then because they don't recognize it, so whatever. i know i might be going way too into this whole bad feeling that Kyle's having, but it won't be brought back up again until a later chapter or so. After this one it's just all fun and we see how the other people are doing.

Next chapter's most likely going to be everyone hanging out, and then after that the road trip to Duke. Im going a little bit faster than i was in the precious story. Also I'm stil ltaking suggestions from people.

Again im saying that this story isn't going to be as long. i don't really know why except the fact that i have the whole new story planned and eveyrthing, so that's about it. Enjoy and Review!!!

OTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTH

Chapter 2: Ain't No Other Man But You

"You are so cute! Yes you are!" Brooke cooed while little baby James just stared at her in awe, wondering how someone got so much energy from a baby like himself.

Haley rolled her eyes from the kitchen, "I still haven't forgiven you for buyinh him a playground set you know."

"Hales, he's a baby okay? Babaies need this kind of stuff in advance for when they're toddlers and they can play on it," Brooke simply explained.

"That's all just great, but in case you haven't forgotten, he's two months old!" she exclaimed, entering the living room with James' bottle and two glasses of lemonade.

"Whatever Tutormom, you know those tire swings are awesome," Brooke said coolly.

"Yeah, they are pretty cool," Haley admitted, looking through the glass patio set into the backyard, where the playground set already built.

"Thank you. Hey, what time is it anyway?" Brooke asked, looking around the living room for the clock.

"Brooke, we still have three more hours until Kyle and Nathan's plane gets in. Calm down," Haley said.

"Sorry, I just can't wait for Kyle to get home you know?" Brooke asked, watching James unsuccessfully drink his bottle without getting it on himself.

"Yeah I know what you mean, I'm going crazy here without Nathan. He owes me a week of sleepless nights."

"I have to ask," Brooke began, "you and nathan are even more in love now than when you were when you first met right?"

Haley looked at her, "Yeah, I guess. Why?"

"Is it always like that?" You know, that strong love and connection. Does it go away or is it always there?"

"Well, since me and nathan almost for a divorce, yeah our whole bond was kind of broken for a little while. But we got it back. And if I hadn't have gone on tour and left Nathan, I don't think our love would've been any less."

Brooke nodded understandably, "Yeah, I see what you mean..."

"Alright Brooke, what's bothering you? And something tells me this has something to do with Kyle," Haley assumed.

"Ahh it's nothing Hales. I'm just trying to be more aware of me and Kyle's relationship, and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"Well, what's made you analyze so much about it now?"

Brooke shrugged, "I don't know. There's something going on with Kyle right now, and I wanna be ther efor him, but it doesn't seem like he even knows, which is really weird for me because he is always so sure of himself."

"It seems like this won't be easier until he gets back and you guyscan talk about it. But I"m sure things will work out. You guys have some too far to let something like this get you down."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

**--**

Nathan buckled his seat belt, "Three hours until we see the nothing that is Tree Hill."

Kyle smirked, "Yeah, I can't wait actually. The past two days have been absolute hell to be perfectly honest."

Nathan couldn't disagree with him there. They said goodbye to the weightroom, and spent more of their time with a basketball and the word 'suicide.' With barely any time to even think about catching a drink of water, Kyle just hoped that practices wouldn't always be that way. And if it was, he would tell himself that it was for the love of basketball, even though he wasn't feeling it right now.

"I'm with you there. So, did you ever settle that thing with Brooke?" Nathan asked, turning his head towards him.

That was all it took for the phone conversation Kyle had three days prior to boom through his brain like a stereo system.

_As he heard the ringing sound on the other line, he couldn't help but feel nervous and anticipated. If things didn't go good, then he was in deeper shit than he originally thought. And if he wasn't, would he stop having these dreams?_

_"Hello?"_

_"Manny," Kyle stated._

_"Kyle, sorry I didn't recognize the number."_

_"Yeah, sorry. I'm at basketball camp right now. But I've been needing to ask you a question."_

_"Alright, shoot."_

_"Is everything going alright with the business?" Kyle asked quickly, on the edge of his bed._

_"Uhhmm, yeah things are good. So what was that question?"_

_"That was it. Now are you sure? Like, there arne't any death threats being thrown around or something?"_

_"Kyle, you're really starting to weird me out. What's going on and why all of a sudden are you interested in what's going on?"_

_"I don't know," Kyle sighed. "I just needed to know that, I don't know, just a feeling."_

_"Everything's fine Kyle. You don't need to be worrying about us, alright?"_

_"Okay... Are you sure?"_

_"YES! Now I have to go to a meeting in a couple of minutes, so I'll talk to you later."_

_"Okay, tell everyone I said hi," Kyle said before hanging up._

"Uhhm, it was alright. There's nothing bad going on," Kyle answered.

"So, are you still tweaked?" Nathan asked.

"No. It made me feel better about this. Maybe now I can stop being so uptight."

Nathan nodded and closed his eyes, leaning back in his seat. Kyle looked out the window and sighed. Things weren't alright. He didn't feel remotely better, nor did he stop thinking about it all the time. He hadn't had a dream since his conversation, but he continuously looked over his hsoulder, wondering isoemone was going to come out of nowhere and run him over relentlessly.

But Manny said nothing troublesome was giong on, so for now Kyle would have to believe him and hope that he was right. Didn't mean he would stop worrying about it though.

**--**

"Haley could you be anymore slower? I think you were faster when you were preggers!" Brooke exclaimed, entering the airport and power walking towards the different gates.

"Brooke would you calm your butt down for a second? I do have a little baby in my arms," Haley said, James balanced on her hip.

"Duhh I knew that Haley. Anyways, what gate did you say they were coming out of?" Brooke asked.

"Gate C," Haley answered, pointingto the one on the far right.

"Ohh yay this is so exciting!" Brooke shouted, clapping her hands together and jumping, causing James to laugh and do the same thing, making it harder for Haley to hold him up.

"Jeez, I feel like I'm handling two kids here," Haley said, rolling her eyes. "And we still have like two more minutes."

"Way to kill a moment Hales," Brooke moaned. "Aren't you excited? You know, Nathan's home, wink wink."

"Yeah, I don't think that's an option right now. Hence the kid," Haley said, nodding towards James.

Brooke just shook her head and put her attention towards Gate C, seeing people from the far end of the gate walking towards them. She squinted her eyes, trying to see anyone that looked remotely close to Kyle or Nathan. Her heart was thumping and anticipation shocked through her body. A week was only a few days, but to Brooke she had to go seven days without seeing the person she loved. And if that wasn't hard she didn't know what was.

"Oooh Brooke I think I see them!" Haley exclaimed, pointing at the far end of the gate with James clapping in her arms.

Brooke craned her neck and stood on her tippy toes. She smirked as she saw two tall dark haired guys walking towards the end of the gate.

They were half way through the gate before Brooke couldn't take it anymore. She ran straight for the two guys, despite the sign that said she wasn't allowed past that point.

"Dude, you better drop those bags because Brooke's gonna replace them in about three seconds," Nathan said quickly. Kyle looked towards the brunette girl running towards them. Before he could even think his duffel bag was on the floor, and Brooke Davis was in his arms, just like it should have always been.

"Gahh Boyfriend's home!" Brooke exclaimed, giving him a quick kiss before jumping off him.

"Finally," Kyle stated, putting one arm around her shoulders as they walked towards Nathan and Haley.

"Okay, I don't know about you guys, but I'm hungry," Nathan said, causing Brooke and haley to laugh and roll their eyes.

"Hey, it's not funny," Kyle siad. "We haven't had an actual meal we didn't throw up in a week."

"Ew, disgusting," Brooke said, crinkling her nose.

"Oh whatever. So what did you guys do while we were gone?" Nathan asked.

"Oh nothing," Brooke said. "Just you know, hung around the corrupted James..."

"Did she really?" Nathan asked seriously.

Haley rolled her eyes and shook her head.

**--**

"Man, I am so glad to be home," Kyle said, walking into his house.

"Where's your dad at?" Brooke asked.

"This golf thing in Miami. Turns out he's more into it then I thought," he laughed.

Brooke smiled along with him, sitting on his bed and watching him unpack his stuff. She wondered if he forgot that he was supposed to tell her what was bothering him when he got back. She didn't want to come across as a nag, or nosey, but if she was ever supposed to feel better, then he would have to come clean.

Kyle glanced at her in the corner of his eye, his stomach sinking. She hadn't forgotten. It was useless to think that she had in the first place.

"So, I bet you're wondering about the thing?" Kyle asked, sitting on the bed next to her.

She chuckled, "How could I not? What's going on?"

"I've been keeping this from you not because I didn't want you to help me, but because I didn't want to scare you, because then maybe you wouldn't want to be with me anymore. But, I called someone, and I felt relieved about the whole thing."

"So, like, you're not bothered by it anymore?" Brooke asked.

He shook his head, "Nope, not anymore. It's al ltaken care of and I don't think anything bad's going to happen."

"Should you still tell me?"

"No, I don't think it really matters anymore, everything's fine," he said, smiling at her for assurance. But all the while, he knew he was lying to her.

She laid her chin on his shoulder, "Good. But just do you know, I'll never not want to be with you."


	3. Back Away From the Edges

**A/N: **Thanks for the reviews. And some of you are right, drama is ahead of them. I know it seemed like everything was gonna be all nice and good in college, yeah, not so much lol. I'm kind of juggling with some ideas, and I would ask what you guys thought, but that would be giving it all away. So if there is a couple of people who aren't going to spoil it, then message me or whatever so I can let you know what I'm thinking. Chapters are also a tad bit shorter, just letting you know.

Like I promised, this chapter is mainly everybody hanging out and talking together for the first time since the boys have been gone. You'll kind of see how everyone has been doing for the past months and how their relationships are kind of different than how it was in the last story. I'm not really sure, but maybe some of you are kind of disappointed that I'm bringing Kyle's cousin back into the mess, and you know what that means. Sorry if you're not liking the whole mob scene, but it's gonna have to play a big part in how things turn out, so I think it should be brought back. Bryle is still gonna be together, but expect them to be facing some stuff. Enjoy and Review!!

OTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTH

Chapter 3: Back Away From the Edges

It was eleven o'clock at night, and surprisingly, Rachel wasn't out partying. Actually, she hadn't partied hard all summer, and believe it or not, it didn't really bother. Not only that, but she had been celibate for just as long. Call it what you want, but Rachel Gattina was actually behaving herself during the summer, whether it be with her body or her alcohol tolerance, she was handling it. All except her credit cards, or, her daddy's credit cards.

Ever since Rachel had decided to turn her life around, she had replaced alcohol and boys with clothes, shoes, handbags, the works. It wasn't exactly different, but at least she wasn't at some random party letting a guy grope her because she was too drunk to even speak up. Just thinking about it made her shiver in disgust, she didn't want to be like that anymore, and thank god she had a roommate who didn't want that either.

Living with Brooke had its upsides, and Rachel was just experiencing them. Ever since she had started going to therapy and pouring her soul out whenever the hell she felt like it, she finally understood why Brooke had thrown her old life away, not for a boy or for her friends, but because her life sucked. She didn't want to be that type of girl anymore, so she grew up and wasn't. It sounded easy, but to Rachel, it was the hardest thing she ever had to do. So with Brooke living with her, she no longer had the urge to drink or to do anything remotely scandalous.

As she parked her car in the driveway, she wondered if she would've believed anyone that had told her how her life would be now. She would've laughed in your face, and then called you fat, and walk away. It was that simple.

The light was on upstairs, so she assumed Brooke was home from seeing Kyle. Brooke had been nothing but a life size bouncy ball since morning, squealing and giggling all over the place. For about the first five minutes Rachel considered it cute, but then it was to the point where she had to kick her out, so Brooke could go bother Haley.

"Well, I'm surprised to see you home," Rachel said as she entered the girls' room, throwing all her bags onto her bed and kicking off her shoes. Brooke was on her own bed, surfing the web on her laptop.

"Yeah, well I thought I'd give Kyle some time to unpack and stuff. I get him all to myself tomorrow though," she smiled slightly, eyes still glued to the screen. Rachel stared at her for a moment. This thought had been reoccurring to her for some time now, but she just never thought to ask. But seeing as Brooke was home at 11 at night, and Kyle was home, but they weren't together, she thought that a bit weird. It was then Rachel came to the conclusion.

"Alright, so I'm assuming that you guys haven't done it yet, right?" she asked simply, putting all her new clothes away. She smirked as she heard Brooke close her laptop and lay her forehead on it.

"Rachel, shut up. It's bad enough Nathan and Haley are wondering the same thing, I don't need it from my freaking roommate," Brooke moaned.

"Brooke calm your ass down. It's not that big of a deal. I mean, look at me, I used to be a slut, right? And so far I haven't had sex in four months. So don't worry, you're not alone in this. Although my situation is completely different since I don't have a hot, gorgeous boyfriend who's in love with me and who I haven't seen in a week and looks just as hot as he did before he left, so when you think about it, it's really not the same thing."

"Okay, what was the point in that? And may I remind you that Kyle was the last person you slept with, so if I wasn't so worried about this whole sex thing, then I would pour alcohol down your throat and stick you in a room with a guy."

"Rawr, but seriously Brooke, stop getting all bothered by this thing. It's stupid and there's really no need for you to be freaking out. Kyle loves you and you love him, so you shouldn't have to come up with a reason why you guys haven't done it yet."

"Well it didn't really start to bother me until Nathan asked Kyle. It doesn't bother him, but for some reason that's like, all I think about now. That and something else. But I don't wanna seem like a prude..."

"Trust me, you're not a prude," Rachel grinned, receiving a glare from Brooke.

"Anyways, as I was saying. I don't want to seem like this girl who doesn't do anything with her boyfriend, THE boyfriend in which I am completely devoted to, it's just not right if you ask me."

"Brooke, if Kyle wanted to sleep with you, he would have no problem initiating it. So maybe you're thinking the same thing he is. Plus, aren't you guys supposed to be in love or something? Shouldn't sex be like, the last thing on your mind?"

"Well yeah, but now that I think about it, I can't stop. Rachel you know how I am, once I start thinking about something I can't get it out of my head!" she exclaimed, throwing herself onto her pillows.

Rachel raised an eyebrow, "Wait, so you're meaning to tell me that you think about you and Kyle having sex? Jeez, I wonder if you brooked yourself too since you were thinking about it--"

"RACHEL!!!"

-

Going from future college basketball player to a father in a whole span of a day wasn't as hard for Nathan as he thought it would be. It was one thing to be out there on the court, under pressure to win, but it was another to be a good father. Some would think being a good father wouldn't be that hard, all you had to do was love your kid, but to Nathan, being a good father was everything, a life long job. It was more important than having a basketball career, which was something that his own father never really understood the concept of.

It was three o' clock in the morning, and instead of sleeping in a soft bed with his wife, he was in the nursery, rocking his son in his arms until he fell asleep. He had been at this for about thirty minutes now, and James was just starting to droop his eyes. When he first heard the little cries of his son, his immediate goal wasn't to get him to stop, but to make sure he got there in time before Haley woke up. He loved her for taking over for the time being while he was gone, and he knew that he was going to have to help contribute too.

They had this talk before, about college and about the team, and Nathan didn't want it to come between him and his family. And if it did, then he would quit. There were no 'and's' or 'buts' about it, he would stop as soon as he could. As much as he loved basketball, his family was more important and he didn't want to lose them ever. If he ever did, then basketball wouldn't even be worth it.

As James' eyes slowly closed, Nathan smiled in satisfaction. The little kid had fallen asleep faster than he had expected. From the way Haley had been talking this past week, she had gotten absolutely no sleep the whole week. It could've been the fact that she was exaggerating, so he wouldn't be looking forward to it, or maybe James just liked his father better, but he would never even want to mention that to Haley.

It was hard to believe that not even a year ago Nathan wouldn't have cared if he ever saw Haley again. He was once nothing to her, and all he wanted was to get a scholarship to Duke and get as far away from his dad as possible. Little did he know that his whole attitude would change as fast as it did when he first met Haley.

"Looks like you're getting better at that," a voice whispered from behind him. Haley leaned against the doorway with her loose pajama pants and tank top.

He smiled softly, setting James back in his crib, "Yeah, although thanks for telling me that I would be up till the crack of dawn."

Haley shrugged, "Well I had to make you feel a teeny bit miserable."

"Even if I had to stay up all night, I don't really think I would care. That whole camp kicked my ass Hales. If tihs is the way things are gonna be this season, I don't know if I can handle it."

"Don't even think about dropping out Nathan. You've worked your whole life for this, you can't just give up because the conditioning was a challenging. Plus, James can't brag to all his friends about how cool his daddy is beacuse he plays basketball 'with the big boys,' Haley explained.

Nathan nodded, "I guess you're right. My whole life would be a waste if I didn't stick this out huh? I don't think Kyle would let me quit either now that I think about it."

"Yeah I don't think you could get away with it. And it Kyle won't let you, then Brooke definitely won't. And then there's Lucas, and Whitey..." Haley trailed

"Alright you rest your case," Nathan interrupted.

"Oh by the way, did you tell Kyle anything about what I asked you that one time?" Haley grimaced.

"You mean, did I ask Kyle if him and Brooke had done it yet? Well, yeah I did, and no, they haven't," Nathan smirked.

"Nathan!" Haley hissed, hitting his shoulder. "I can't believe you asked him that? Great, now Brooke's gonna kill be tomorrow."

"Haley calm down alright? Sure, Kyle thinks that we're getting way too nosey, but whatever. It's not like Brooke won't tell you whenever they do have sex."

"I kind of feel like bad friends now. I mean, we're talking about their sex life you know?"

"Whatever, they'll get over it. Plus, you know when you see couples walking around together and you just know that they did it last night? I think we'll be able to tell if they did it or not."

"Yeah, you're right. Brooke will tell me too."

"Can't say the same for Kyle, though," Nathan said.

"Speaking of Kyle, is he alright?" Haley asked as Nathan closed the door and the pair walked down the hall to their bedroom.

"Why? Is Brooke telling you something's wrong?" Nathan asked.

"Well, she's been kind of freaking out about some stuff. Like how Kyle isn't letting her in and she doesn't want to be in that type of situation again. I don't know, I just thought that since he's kind of been with you all week, he would've told you something? I mean, I know it's none of our business, but I'd just hate to see them fall apart from something that could've been prevented," Haley said.

Nathan sighed, "There is something. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but Kyle's been kind of freaked too over something. Like he's having these really bad dreams that something's happening to Brooke, and he tries to save her, but he can't. It's to the point where I've heard him yelling in his sleep. I don't know, I told him that if there's some way he can find reassurance, then he should do it before he tells Brooke something. He called somebody, I'm not really sure who, but he said things were alright now."

"Kind of like the night before our wedding day? When you told me to stay away from water?" Haley asked quietly.

Nathan nodded, "Yeah, so I told him to look into it, because eveyrone thought I was just making it a big deal, but look what happened. I don't know if it's the same thing, but I don't know. But I think it's alright now, well, that's what he's saying."

"This is one of those things where we just have to wait and see, huh?" Haley asked shortly.

"Looks that way, babe."

-

_Baby, seasons change but people don't._

_And I'll always be waiting in the back room._

_I'm boring but overcompensate with_

_Headlines and flash, flash, flash, photohraphy._

With Fall Out Boy blaring through her Ipod headphones, Peyton smirked. It was hard to believe that she had actually hooked up with Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy. She remembered it like it was yesterday, everybody not believing that she had actually made out with him, and then everyone's shocked faced of realization when he drove up in his stretch limo to Rachel's cabin. Of course then she was also hiding harbored feelings for her best friend's boyfriend, but those days were over.

She glanced up at her alarm clock next to her bed, 7:32 A.M. She didn't know what force in her body decided to wake up at a such god forsaken time, but once she was up, she was up and there was no stopping her. So she pulled out her Ipod and sifted through her albums and remembering which ones were Ellie's and which were hers. Then she sat on the foot of her bed, considering doing something new to her room. Summer was close to being over, and she had yet to do anything to it. Maybe she didn't need to, but the thought would remain in her head.

Peyton considered stopping by Kyle's earlier to catch up, but she figured that he would be hanging out with Brooke, so that could wait another day or so. Kyle and Brooke needed some stuff to figure out, and if they didn't do it now, then they would never get around to it. Peyton only immersed herself in other people's problems only when there was nothing dramatic happening in her life, and in this case it was a very good thing because for the first time in almost forever, Peyton was stable.

Linking Peyton to the words 'stable' or 'content' were either way out of reach to even comprehend, or just not happening at all. It was hard for her to believe herself that she was finally happy with the way things were. There were no things that she felt were missing, and not regrets or things that she had screwed up on. Only thing she wish she could take back was not being with Jake sooner.

Ever since their get together a couple of months ago, life had been smooth sailing for Peyton. Her and Jake's agreement to take things slow turned out to work out for both of them, not just them but Jenny as well. Peyton loved her like she was her own daughter, and she was glad to be that person in Jenny's life. Call it reiterating the fact that Peyton grew up without a motherly figure, but Peyton knew that as long as Jake was around, so was Jenny. And if Jenny was around, then Peyton would make it her job to look out for her, and get her into music.

And then there was her ever so BFF, Brooke. Compared to how they were a few months ago, it was a good thing Brooke didn't murder Peyton in her sleep. Their friendship had been even stronger than it was before the love triangle happened. Peyton didn't know how she did it, but Brooke managed to completely forgive Peyton, like it had never even happened. She didn't think anyone was capable of being that forgiving, but Brooke did have the biggest heart out of anyone she had ever known. Peyton felt that after Brooke had broken up with Lucas, it really solidified their friendship since Lucas was out of the picture and neither were harboring feelings or a relationship with him.

But even though she had her own little family and her best friend, Peyton couldn't help but wonder what Lucas was up to. Sure, they lived in the same town, they had graduated, they went to that killer party on grad night, but other than just being around each other, they hadn't had much contact, let alone a normal conversation. Lucas had immediately gotten together with Brooke, and when that didn't work out, he kind of disappeared behind the scenes of some sort. Peyton knew that there was a possibility that Lucas still had feelings for Brooke, and that might potentially be the reason of his lack of existence. She herself knew what it felt like to feel like you were alone, isolated basically, from everyone else because they had something you didn't.


	4. Resolve and Demolish

**A/N: **Thanks for the reviews, I'm glad that you guys liked the chapter. I felt that I needed to incorporate some of the other people's lives than just Brooke and Kyle, as cute as they are. But yeah definitely going to be having some focus on other people, and maybe bringing some significant conflict into their lives just to give Bryle a break, because their problems are yet to come lol.

In the beginning I wasn't sure what i wanted to do with Lucas. It was at the point where i was thinking of just not having him mentioned at all. But then i realized that i kind of have to, seeing as he's an original character and all. There were alot of ideas I had, and im still playing around with them now, but im not sure what im gonna do. Everyone's starting to feel kind of bad for excluding Lucas for a little bit, so we'll see what Lucas has been up to during summer and some other things in store. Enjoy and review!!!

OTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTH

Chapter Four: Resolve and Demolish

The disruptive knocking on his door just wouldn't stop. No matter how many times he tried to annoy it, it just seemed to get louder and louder until even a pillow couldn't muffle the continuous rapping of knuckles onto his wooden door that had only a year ago, been painted red.

Lucas dragged his body away from his bed and shuffled over to his front door, wanting to do anything to ensure that this would never happen again, especially this morning, when he had spent all night typing away on his computer about the past months.

He swung the door open to see Peyton's surprisingly cheery face on. He looked at her in confusion, trying to remember the last time he had actually seen Peyton. The only time Lucas could think of was when they broke up. Sure they had hung out with the group occasionally, but it hadn't ever been just him and her. And from the way things were, that was a good thing.

"Morning," Peyton greeted, crushing past him and into his room.

He scratched his head, "Uhhmm, hey. No offense, but it's kind of a little early for surprise visits."

She snorted, "I would say it's too late. Check your clock dude," she said, pointing to the bright digital numbers that read 1:32.

"Wow, I guess I really did sleep in," he said in awe, looking around his room.

"Yeah you sure did," Peyton nodded.

"Listen," he began, "I don't mean to be rude, I really don't. But you haven't even had a single full conversation with me in months and then now you show up on my door acting like nothing ever happened. Did I miss something?"

Peyton sighed, "No, you didn't miss a beat. Look, I realized last night that the way I've, well, everybody's been acting towards you is kind of messed up. You were an ass for most of the time you were with Brooke, but that didn't mean you didn't love her. It sucks that you guys weren't meant to be, and it sucks even more when you're isolated from your friends, believe me I know. So I just wanted to visit and see how you've been."

He nodded slowly, "So what you mean to tell me is that you want to see what I've been doing for the past three months, talk for a little bit, and then go back to not talking to each other?"

"Nope, I want to be friends. Kind of like before, but not so much," she said.

"So you mean, being friends and hanging out with everyone else. Just not hanging out by ourselves and me saving you kind of friends?"

Peyton smiled, "Exactly!"

"Well, it's nice that one of you guys are trying to make an effort. Brooke said we would still be friends, but so far, no Brooke," Lucas stated, sitting on his bed.

"Yeah, remind me to kick her ass later," Peyton mumbled. "She's kind of going through some stuff with her and Kyle's relationship. Not exactly an excuse for not following up on what she says, but I'm sure she's been meaning to."

Lucas smirked, "You don't have to try to speak for Brooke. Plus I'm sure visiting me isn't one of the things on her top priority list, and I get that. It just kind of sucks, you know?"

"Completely. But don't worry, I'm sure when Brooke remembers she's going to run over here and think she's doing you a favor by rearranging your room," Peyton said, walking towards the door.

-

"Babe, I'm hungry," Brooke whined as she sat on Kyle's bed, watching him and Nathan going at it on Halo 3.

"Yeah, I'm starting to get hungry too," He answered, his eyes glued to the television. "We'll go after I finish kicking Nathan's ass."

"Whatever man," Nathan said, steering his controller to his right. Brooke rolled her eyes, as if that helped any. Now that she thought about it, she should've just went with Haley to run errands, would've been more fun than sitting here watching basically grown men fondling over a stupid video game. But she had wanted to hang out with Kyle all day. The things she did for love.

"Hah! I so totally blew your ass up!" Kyle exclaimed, throwing his controller on the ground. "Alright Brooke, we can head out now."

"That's because I was losing grip on the controller. I'll get you next game we play," Nathan said, putting his controller down, his arrogant attitude kicking in.

"Whatever you say Nate," Kyle said, grabbing his keys. "So where did you want to go grab a bite?"

Brooke shrugged, "I don't really care actually. I just wanted to eat something. Nothing gets my stomach growling than watching two guys play video games," she said, rolling her eyes.

"I know I know. You came over this morning to be with me. Nathan just got there first," Kyle laughed. "But don't worry; he's got some stuff to do around the house before Haley gets home. Now I am all yours."

"Good," Brooke nodded, "You know, we could go to the Cafe?"

Kyle looked at her, "Like, Karen's Cafe? Lucas's mom?"

"Yeah, I haven't really been around there in a little bit, so why not?" Brooke asked, trying not to make it a big deal.

Kyle shrugged, "Alright, if you say so. But don't whine to me about how awkward it's going to be, got it?"

"Whatever, Lucas knows that it's not like that. Plus, I said we would be friends."

"And have you been hanging out and 'being friends' this summer?" he asked knowingly.

"Well, no," she said. "But that doesn't mean I don't want to. Lucas was once my best friend when Peyton was going through her stuff. Honestly, I feel bad because I told him we would still be able to be friends. I don't even remember the last time I ever talked to him."

"When you put it that way, you're a horrible friend," Kyle laughed. "But seriously, maybe we should go, that way you can talk to Lucas and kind of make up for lost time or whatever. But I'm telling you now, if he even looks at you weird, we're leaving."

"Fine, we'll leave. But I think Lucas knows what you're capable of," Brooke said, referring to the time Kyle held Eric against the lockers with his feet dangling from the floor and his voice hoarse with no breath.

Kyle nodded, remembering that time, "Yeah, and if he needs me to remind him again, then I can do that too."

-

"Haley, one cookie isn't going to hurt him," Lucas assured, watching James stare longingly at the plate of cookies on the counter.

"Lucas, in case you haven't noticed, there's chocolate chips in there. Key word being chocolate, meaning that he's going to be bouncing off the walls before we even leave," Haley explained, arms crossed.

"You're seriously depriving your son with the finer things in life. No kid wants to eat asparagus and spinach. They want sweets and food that isn't green."

"Fine, let's say I let him have a cookie. We leave and you don't have to look after him while he throws toys at my head from the backseat or yells out cuss words that he's heard Nathan say. Where are you going to be huh? Oh yeah, you're going to be here at the Cafe, convincing some other mom to let their kid have a cookie, and then you'll be the most hated man of all the mothers!"

Lucas rolled his eyes, "Whatever Hales. You know I'm going to give him one before you leave, right?"

Haley nodded, "Yeah I know. I just thought arguing would be fun."

He chuckled, "You sound like Brooke."

"So," she began, "speaking of Brooke, have you talked to her lately?"

Lucas shook his head slowly, "Not really. Last time I ever had an actual conversation with her was before summer. I'm not really sure where she's been the past two months, but I'm guessing with you and Kyle maybe."

"Yeah, since Kyle just got back last night, she's kind of ditched me," Haley exaggerated.

"Hales, you don't have to lie. You probably saw Brooke this morning. It's cool, I know Brooke has a lot of stuff going on, and the whole time we were together she didn't really feel the same way, so I don't expect her to be all buddy buddy this time."

"Even if you didn't expect it, she still should have. Brooke said you guys would remain friends, and she has yet to follow up on it. But she'll come around, she's just dealing with this one Kyle problem at the moment, but I think it's working out now, so she'll be coming around here all the time just to sit at this very counter and talk about her whole day, even though you most likely won't give a hoot."

"The worse thing is she knows I don't give a hoot, but she does it anyway," he smirked, just in time for the bell on the front door to jingle and a couple to walk in.

"Well," Haley said. "Looks like that catching up will be a lot sooner."

"You make that sound like a bad thing," Lucas said.

"It's not, but I don't know what Kyle's going to think," Haley said. "But I'm sure he's fine with it. Kyle's not that type of person."

"Yeah I know that. But don't you think that Brooke and I are just one of those things that can't be salvaged?"

"Not at all. Plus, you guys were friends after you broke up the first time, right?" Haley asked.

Lucas nodded, "Yeah, but that was a completely different situation. I cheated on her and didn't come back for a couple of weeks, and still later on after that she started talking to me. It's a big difference."

"Ugh, whatever Luke. Anywho, I better get going. We still have to stop by the grocery store," Haley said, picking up James, who had sneakily been handed a cookie.

"Alright, I'll see you guys later," Lucas said, sighing and turning his back to face Brooke and Kyle.

It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to Brooke, he really did. He just didn't know if Brooke wanted to be friends with him. She said that when they broke up, but still, it didn't mean she ever meant it. And if she did mean it, then why hadn't she made an effort. He understood that he was partly to blame, he could've made an effort also, but it wasn't like Lucas was going to throw himself into every hang out that had ever been made that summer. And now that they were all going to college in a couple of weeks, when would he and Brooke ever find a way to be friends?

Grabbing the order pad and a pencil, Lucas slowly made his way towards the booth.

"Hey guys, what can I get you?" Lucas asked politely, eyes still on the notepad.

"Hey Luke, I'll have the grilled chicken salad and a water," Brooke answered, noticing Lucas's uneasiness.

"And I'll have the double bacon cheeseburger with fries and a Coke," Kyle said. Brooke rolled her eyes.

"Got it. Your food will be out shortly."

Brooke sighed, "Well if that doesn't say 'I'm pissed at you' I don't know what does."

"Maybe you should talk to him now," Kyle suggested. "Because if you don't, I have a feeling you never will."

"I hate it when you're right."

Kyle smirked, "No you don't, because otherwise you wouldn't have a chance to make things better if I wasn't right."

"Ugh, whatever. I'll just go now," Brooke said, sliding out of the booth.

As Lucas was stuffing his tip from the previous customer, he heard someone walk up behind him, someone that Lucas was hoping he could avoid the rest of his life.

"Hey Luke," Brooke greeted, sitting on one of the stools in front of him.

He smiled quickly, "Hey, did you need something else?"

"No, I just wanted to talk to you and stuff," she said simply.

"Now you want to talk to me?" Lucas asked.

Brooke sighed, "Yeah I know. I haven't really been the best friend to you, I've been the worst. Saying that I was busy isn't really an excuse, but I want you to know that ignoring you and not talking wasn't my intention. Some weird things have been going on and I just needed some time to deal with them. So, I was wondering, if the offer still stands, if we could be friends?"

Lucas shrugged, "Yeah, that's fine with me. I know you never meant to ignore me, it just kind of sucked to see how we've become, you know? We were once so close and then we didn't even talk anymore. I don't want it to be one of those situations."

"And it won't, I promise. It's kind of going to be hard to do that anyway, seeing as we're all going to Duke."

"Yeah, I guess that's another adventure," Lucas said. Him and Brooke were now on good terms, but could it be kept that way? Kyle was around, and he could tell he loved Brooke very much, but would anyone be able to love her more than he had? Or more than he did?

-

As Kyle sat at the booth waiting for Brooke, he suddenly realized that they were all leaving Tree Hill in less than a month, and they would have to start over in a completely different place and different people, with the exception of the few. He would still have to pack and get everything ready, and then there was the drive there. It would be weird moving everything out of Tree Hill and going to college. So many things had happened here, it seemed like everyone grew up really fast, but going to Duke was whole other experience.

"Well, that went better than I expected," Brooke said, sliding back into the booth.

"So I'm guessing it went well?" He asked.

She nodded, "Yeah, we settled everything and now we can all be cool."

"Yeah, you're right about that."

"Thinking about anything?" She asked, tilting her head at him.

He shrugged, "Nothing really, just that we're leaving in less than a month, and going to college and all that stuff. Looks like I got a lot of crap to do before we leave."

"Wow, when you put it that way it seems way too soon. Like I wasn't really thinking about college because I thought it was still a long time away."

"Same here. I might as well get started on packing everything, or maybe you should," he smirked.

"You know, I would totally hit you for that, but you're probably right," she laughed.

"Then there's the drive up there. It's only a couple of hours, but how are we all going to be driving and stuff?"

"I don't know, but I think we should all call a meeting and figure stuff out. Or else we won't get there until like, well, forever."

"Yeah with Haley and Nathan and the baby, then there's Lucas and Peyton and Jake and Jenny. Then Mouth, Skills, Bevin, oh and did Tim even apply for college?"

Brooke laughed, "Yeah actually he did, I heard from Nathan he got accepted into the clown institution or something. Yep, I always knew Tim would grow up to be a clown."

"When did you come up with that?"

"I think it was in first grade," she smirked.

"I'm sure he'll be successful in that. And I'm not even kidding. But seriously, what's Tree Hill going to do without us all here?"

"It'll probably turn into a ghost town without any living creature outside. But in a way I wouldn't mind," she said thoughtfully.

"It doesn't really matter because I can't picture this place being any more screwed up than it has been. So in a way you don't even have to wish on stuff like that, because it will never be like it was when you guys all lived here," Kyle explained.

"Well I don't think there will be any more mob wars in this town as long as your butt's not here."

"And I consider that to be a good thing. No mob wars, nobody gets hurt," he said simply.

"Speaking of mob wars, have you heard from your cousin and uncle lately?" she asked.

He froze in mid motion, "Umm, yeah I talked to them a couple of days ago. They're all doing fine."

"So there are no threats being made or anything?" she asked, chomping down on her salad.

He shook his head. "No, why would there be?"

She shrugged, "I don't know. Well of course you wouldn't want anything bad happening to them, right?"

He nodded, "Yeah, you're right. I'm glad that's all over and done with. It was kind of a good experience, but I can't see myself doing that again."

"I don't think someone would like shooting people as their daily job for the rest of their lives," she said, rolling her eyes.

"But it's the family business, and you can't really help it. If there's someone out there trying to hurt your family, you're going to do whatever it takes to protect them, right?" he asked reasonably.

"Yeah, but do you have to take someone's life in order to save your own. Does it really mean shooting people?"

He shrugged indifferently, "In that type of business, it means everything." It was kind of a hard concept to swallow, but it was true. If killing people meant you were saving and protecting the people you cared about, of course you would gladly take a gun and shoot someone. Kyle would do it if Brooke's life was on the line, but then he would never be stupid enough to be around her if he was in that situation.

"How is that any way to live? I mean, you're killing people to protect your family is reasonable, but do people like that even lose sleep at night knowing that they killed someone?"

"It's not like they were innocent or anything. And how did we get in the subject of this anyhow?"

She shrugged, "I don't know. I guess we never really talked about that time, you know?"

"I didn't think you wanted to talk about it. When I first told you, you ran out of my hospital room and didn't talk to me for days. It's not exactly something I would want to talk to you about if you know what I mean," he said.

"Yeah I know, it's just kind of a sticky situation. Do you agree with what your family does?"

"Well, I wish it wasn't so dangerous, and I wish that it didn't have to be that way. But if they have to do whatever they can to make sure their children and their wives are safe, then, I guess I can't really disagree with that," he shrugged.

"So like, your uncle has killed people before?" she asked bug- eyed.

He sighed, "Brooke it's not like he would shoot someone point blank because he thought they were a threat. Some families might be that way, but mine isn't. Shooting someone should always be a last resort."

She looked at him, "Would you ever kill someone…"

"Brooke!" he exclaimed.

"What? I just want to know if you were in that situation would you ever shoot someone."

"It's not that simple to answer. It all depends on the situation and who I thought was in danger," he stated.

"Alright, so let's say someone threatened to kill me," she shrugged. "What would you do? Would you kill them or just put protection on me?"

If only she knew her life was in danger once. But he could never tell her to the extent.

"Well, if your life was in danger, and there was an incident where you almost for hurt, then I would shoot someone. Other then that I'd probably just try to scare them a little bit. There, are you happy now?"

"Actually it does kind of make me a little discouraged that you would only threaten somebody before shooting," she said jokingly.

He shook his head at her. It was hard to imagine that Brooke could make something seem funny when it was supposed to be a serious and dangerous subject. Kyle was pretty sure Brooke had only witnessed bad stuff like that in movies and on television. But never when you're involved, and Kyle was determined to never let her have to be involved.

"Let's just drop it now that you know that I would shoot somebody for you. Damn, the things I have to do for you," he laughed as he slid out of the booth.

"If it makes you feel any better, it's nice to know you would hurt someone to protect me," she said.

"Haven't I already done that?" he asked, remembering Eric.

"Shut up," she said, hitting him on the arm and waving bye to Lucas.

"Whatever, remember I'm taking your ass home."

"You think I could fit all my stuff into your truck when we take off?" Brooke asked as she closed the car door

He laughed, "Are you kidding me? No offense, but I think we're going to have to hire a U-Haul with all the stuff you have."

She pouted, "Yeah, I was hoping you didn't have to say that. U-Hauls are icky."


	5. In A Mile You'll Be Feelin' Fine

**A/N: **Thanks for the reviews. I thought I'd put in some cute parts w/ Brooke and Kyle. There was also some foreshadowing w/ Kyle and Brooek's different views about the whole mob business. There was also some concerning Lucas and his feelings towards Brooke, and it proves to be a problem later in the future. I've been kind of busy w/ school and stuff so im surprised I even had time ti upload a new chapter, but i did take the PSATs today, so i got out early at like 11 lol. i kind of already started on the new story after this one, so i kind of know where to go throughout the rest of the story necause i tend to get side tracked and stuff and now i can stick with one idea at a time. Enjoy and Review!!!

OTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTH

Chapter Five: In a Mile You'll Be Feelin' Fine

She swore she could still hear the crickets chirping. And from what she had paid attention to during high school science, it was that crickets chirped at night, when it was dark. She was in no way supposed to be awake this early, but Kyle had insisted on getting up early in the morning so they could get to Duke in the afternoon. She hated when he was right.

Kyle sighed, "Brooke, would you mind giving me a hand?"

"But everything's so heavy," she pouted, looking around her and Rachel's room at the numerous boxes.

"Not everything. You still have your carry ons, your garbage bag of lingerie, and your make up and hair crap," Kyle said, pounting to each thing in front of Brooke's face.

"Fine, but just so you know, my make up and hair products are at least a gazillion pounds each," she said, carrying all the stuff downstairs.

He rolled his eyes and mumbled, "I'll bet," and continued to pack all of Brooke's stuff into the boxes.

"And to think that you still have to help me get my stuff into the U- Haul," Rachel said, coming out of the bathroom with her purse.

"Are you actually going to help me load your stuff?" He asked, balancing a box on his shoulder.

"Well I might, I'm not so fat that I can't carry my stuff like Brooke," Rachel smirked.

"Bitch," Brooke exclaimed, snatching her lingerie filled garbage bags and hoisting them over her shoulder.

KYle smiled and shook his head. Rachel and Brooke could say the meanest things on earth to each other, but they would be friends by the end of the day. With Brooke the house of the hour.

"I'm just thinking realistically, and we'll probably be out of here in the next two hours, and sure, it takes us five minutes to get to Nathan and Haley's, but we still have to call up everyone else and see what's going on and where they are. Then we have to stop at gas stations and load up on food and drinks. Then there are those pit stops that you girls just love calling for out of nowhere," Kyle explained.

Rachel just glared at him, becaus she knew he was right.

"So I think that I should just leave this all to my Boyfriend," Brooke declared, storming into the room and sitting on her bed also, despite it's emptiness.

"Aww, I wouldn't have it any other way," Kyle said sarcastically, bring another box downstairs.

"Gosh, I can't believe we're leaving," Brooke said, falling back onto her bed.

"You're sad about leaving this place? I mean sure, it's hella big and all, but..."

"I'm not talking about that you dumbass. I'm talking about Tree Hill in general," Brooke said. "Aren't you going to miss this place too?"

"Well, yeah," she shrugged, "But I haven't been here long enough to experience everything."

"Believe me," you've been here long enough. IMagine your year here like, every year, since you were seven," Brooke said.

I'm not even going to try to imagine that," she said as Kyle came back up the stairs.

"Please tell me you guys aren't oging to cry when we leave?" Kyle moaned, sitting on Brooke's bed. "I know that it's going to be hard, but like, seriously, you'll be a couple of hours away."

"Well I got one am definitely not going to cry," Rachel said, standing up, "but I wouldn't be so sure about your girlfriend here."

"Ugh, whatever Rachel," Brooke whined. "I'm sorry if I'm so emotional about this, I've only spent my whole life in this place."

Kyle patted her leg, "It's alright to be. But aren't you happy that you're leaving this place with everybody?"

Rachel rolled her eyes, "Well, if I hate to break it to you, but I think since we're kind of done right now, don't you think we should head out and pick up everybody else?"

"Yeah, I guess we might as well be."

-

"Hey Kyle can we stop? I have to go to the bathroom," Rachel called from the back, doing a dance in her seat.

Kyle furrowed his eyebrows, "We stopped like two hours ago, Rach."

"I know, but I drank like two Red Bulls two hours ago, please KYle?" Rachel whined.

"Fine, we'll stop at the next one," he said finally. Brooke glanced at him from the corner of her eye. Was it her, or did KYle seem like the one that wanted to get to Duke the most? it wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but ever since he'd been back, he was nothing but hot and cold, even edgy.

Kyle felt Brooke hold onto his right hand. He glanced over at her and saw her warm smile, and he immediately knew that he was being way too uptight about this.

"You alright," she asked.

He nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine. I just want to get settled and stuff you know?"

"Yeah I know. But if you're feeling upset about something, try to be mellow about it."

"I'm sorry, I'll try," he said, sending her a reassuring smile.

While Rachel ran into the store to use the restroom, Nathan and Kyle went in to look for some stuff to eat while Brooke and Haley remained in the car, Haley rocking James back and forth.

"So is Kyle alright? He seemed a little iriitated lately," Haley said.

Brooke shrugged, "You noticed it too? I don't know, it seems like he's been switching back and forth ever since he got back from basketball camp. I don't know if it's just stress or it's something else."

"I'm sure he's just stressed about college and stuff, we all are," Haley said just when Rachel got back.

"Are ya'll talking about Kyle PMSing earlier?" she asked.

Brooke rolled her eyes, "He wasn't PMSing Rachel, he was just annoyed that you can't keep your bladder under control."

"And apparently Kyle can't keep his attitude under control either. I think you should figure out what crawled up his ass and tell him to get it out."

"Yeah, if only he knew," Brooke said to herself.

-

It was 4:30 when they drove into the campus parking lot. Jake, Peyton, Jenny, Skills, Bevin, and Lucas were already unloading their stuff from the cars and had their orientation packets in their hands.

"See I told you guys we should've left earlier. If we had we would've been here and had time to look around and stuff," Kyle said as he shut the car door.

"Calm down Kyle, we still have plenty of time," Nathan said calmly. "The orientation info stuff are out for everybody all day."

"I know that Nathan, but we still have to unload all our stuff, which in truth means that me, you, and the rest of the guys unloading everybody's stuff," he said, sighing deeply. He closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down, but it seemed like no matter what anybody said, all they would do is annoy and piss him off.

"Well we'll help this time," Brooke said confidentally. "I'm sure we can unpack and meet up for dinner in a couple of hours."

Haley nodded, "Yeah, let's go out and eat tonight or something. See what's good near the campus."

Kyle sighed, "Alright, let's get unloading."

Brooke walked towards Kyle while he was opening the U- Hail. She nudged him, "Are you sure you're alright."

He nodded, getting all the noxes out, "Yeah, I'm fine. I thought I told you earlier."

"I know, but it seems like you're not," Brooke said.

"Look, all I need is a nap and I'll be fine," Kyle said, balancing two boxes.

Brooke nodded warily, "Alright, if you say so."

Nathan came up behind her, "He'll be fine, just give him a little bit of space."

"But he's never been like this before Nathan, not ever. I don't know what could be wrong with him."

"I know, it's kind of weird. But I'll try to talk to him, but I'm sure it's nothing Brooke. The guy's just a little tense," he said before picking up a set of boxes and walking towards the building.

Peyton came up behind her, "So what's this I hear about Kyle being a bitch?"

Brooke glared at her. Peyton shrugged, "Well, that's what Rachel told me."

"Anyways, where's Jake and Jenny going to live? I didn't think they accepted chlidren in the dorm rooms?"

"They're not. Jake bought an apartment two blocks away from the dorms, I think it's in the same complex as Nathan and Haley," Peyton explained, "and I'm going to move in with him."

Brooke gasped, "Oh my gosh!" she ran and tackled Peyton into a hug. "Oh my gosh this is going to be so fun when you come over and hang out. And then I can come over, ahh!"

"Cool, huh? I wans't exactly planning on it, but on our drive up here I just thought I should give it a shot. If you don't try, you never know, right?"

Brooke nodded, "Exactly. Only downside is, I'm rooming with Rachel, again."

"Whatever bitch, you know you love me," Rachel said, brushing past them and getting a box.

"So if Nathan isn't living in the dorm rooms, who's Kyle's roommate?" Peyton asked as they walked up the stairs into the dorm hall.

Brooke shrugged, "I'm not sure. It's either a stranger, or Lucas."

Peyton winced, "Wow, that should be weird if he does end up sharing a dorm with Lucas."

"Yeah, can't say it's be an awesome thing though, right?" Brooke asked, walking into her and Rachel's room. Rachel was already working on her bed, fitting her sheets and comforter.

The room was an acceptable size with enough room to have your space. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable, but Brooke thought that with her and Rachel sharing the room, it would live up to their standards.

"Hmm, this looks nice," Peyton said, setting down the box.

Rachel looked up, "Yeah, sure it looks nice right now. But wait until you see the bathroom. Brooke, we're going to have to come up with some sort of schedule or who used the bathroom first."

Brooke moaned, "Man, that's gay, and I have tons of hair products. Then there's my straightener and my curler.."

"Yeha, that's not going to happen."

-

"Hey man what's your room number?" Nathan asked, balancing two boxes.

"Umm, I think it's 330," Kyle said, right behind Nathan.

Nathan walked further down the hall, past Rachel and Brooke's room, where he saw Brooke, Peyton, and Rachel checking out the bathroom. He stopped at Room 330, two doors down, where Lucas was already settling in.

"Hey Luke," Nathan greeted, entering the room and dropping the boxes.

Lucas turned around and smiled, "Hey Nate. I'm guessing Kyle's my roommate huh?"

"Yup," Kyle answered, setting down his two boxes also. "I hope you know I snore."

Lucas laughed, "It's alright. I'll have my Ipod handy." In truth, Lucas wasn't all looking forward to having Kyle live with him. It wasn't that he didn't like Kyle, because Lucas thought that he was a cool person. But he didn't want to have to see him and Brooke being a couple and in love, something him and Brooke used to have, and now that was over.

"Alright, me and Haley have to head out and get settled into the apartment. But call us when you guys finish up and then we can check out the campus and eat or something," Nathan said.

"Okay man, see you later," Kyle said, opening one of the boxes.

"Bye," Lucas waved slightly, sitting down on the couch.

"So," Kyle said, "what classes are you going to be taking?"

"Well since I can't play basketball anymore, I decided to take Literature and writing classes," Lucas explained.

"Oh, so you want to become a writer?" Kyle asked, taking out all his stuff from the box.

Lucas nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. What are you going to be doing? I mean, other than basketball."

"The team and practes are going to take up most of my time, but I thought I'd try some business classes to see what I can do afte basketball."

"Hm, life after basketball," Lucas mused, "I never thought I'd have to think about that, but here I am."

Kyle looked up at Lucas, "Yeah I know. It sucks that you had to stop because of a disease you got from Dan."

"Tell me about it. But Brooke made me realize that it's what you do after the let down that counts more than you could've done," Lucas siad absentmindedly.

Kyle glanced over at Lucas for a second. It didn't really surprise him that Brooke would help Lucas go through a time like that, because that's the kind of person Brooke was. He was a little uneasy about it though, but he had to remind himself that Brooke was with him, not Lucas.

"Yeah, it's good to have that kind of attitude. Although I really don't think you're missing anything with basketball. It's one thing to love baskbetall and being good at it ever since you were little, but it's another when you have to be good all the time," Kyle said.

"Is it really that bad?" Lucas asked.

"It was during the conditioning camp this summer. I seriously sat down and wondered if I was going to be able to do this. And then there's all these other players that you don't even know, and they're supposed to be on your team. I guess it just takes time and all, but at this point there's not enough time, our first game is in two weeks."

Lucas chuckled, "Kind if reminds me when I first joined the Ravens team. Nathan hated the fact that I was playing with him, as a teammate, and whenever I would get picked on or something, I came so close to just handing in my jersey and walking out of there. But I didn't, because every single time I thought that, I just told myself that I loved basketball, and that's why I was doing it."

Kyle nodded slowly, "Yeah, that makes sense. If only we had a coach like Whitey, though."

"Everyone wished they had a coach like Whitey. I heard Coach K's been mute on you guys."

"He doesn't even say anything other than telling us to go somwwhere and letting us know when practice is over. It's weird because that scout that interviewed me was just so friendly and stuff, which made me more excited."

"It'll work out. I've sene you play and if you just think about how much you love the game, then there's no reason why you won't be able to keep up."

He wondered why he was even encouraging Kyle, after all the guy was playing the game he loved, and had the girl he could've had, or maybe loved?

-

After Peyton had left to go settle into the apartment with Jake and Jenny, Rachel and Brooke had settled for a comfortable silence, both fixing their sides of the room, trying to make it was bit more bearable, and from the fact that both girls were in completely deep though about the same thing.

She didn't want to sound like an annoying girlfriend, but Kyle really did have something up his ass. It could've just been stress, but even if it was that, she knew in her heart that he would never act rude to anyone. He would've covered it up and stored it away. And the more and more Brooke thought about it, the more she thought it had to do with a certain thing that she didn't know about, yet.

Rachel was pissed that Kyle had been snapping at her the whole ride to Duke. She understood Brooke, just becaus she was always a bitch, but Kyle was never like that, and Rachel didn't think he would ever be. It had to be something, and if Rachel knew her men, it was either one of two things, or maybe bith. But she would never tell Brooke about it, or maybe she would.

"So I think I figured out why Kyle's been a bitch lately," Rachel finally said, sitting on her bed.

Brooke quickly glanced at her, "Yeah? Because I don't think that's possible," she said.

"Actually I have two very good reasons, thank you very much."

"Oh, and what are they?" she asked, rolling her eyes.

"Well, now that you ask me," she said. "Either he's going through a little faze where it causes him to pop his shit on a regular basis, or maybe it's the fact that he hasn't had sex since me."

"Oh okay, so you tink the reaosn why Kyle's so uptight is because he's horny?" Brooke said, dropping all her stuff and staring at Rachel.

Rachel smirked, "That's exactly what I'm saying."

Brooke moaned and fell onto her bed, "Man, I was hoping this wasn't going to be an issue."

"Brooke, I could be wrong, even though I find that slim. It could also be something that's bothering him, and trust me if that's what it is, then it's got to be pretty bad."

Brooke stared up at the ceiling, comtemplating what Rachel had said. What Rachel didn't know was that she was more right than she could've thought. When she really thought about it, Brooke knew that Kyle could not have been acting weird just because he wanted to be laid, it had to be something else.

She sat back up and ran her hands through her hair, "Whatever, I'm going to try not to worry about it. If Kyle wants to talk to me about what's bothering him, then I'll be here."

Rachel nodded knowingly, "Yep, if you say so.

-

After the hang had gotten together for dinner, they found themselves seperated all around. Rachel, Bevin, and Skills had already gone to check out the nearest mall. Haley, Nathan, and James had gone back to the apartment to relax, Lucas going with them to give Kyle and Brooke alone time in their room, as much as it made his blood boil thinking of Brooke and Kyle alone together.

Brooke sat on the couch, flipping through the Duke booklet, telling of all the activites and stuff they had to offer other than their classes while Kyle was in his room, trying to do anything to avoid talking to Brooke. He would talk to her, just not about certain things that he just didn't want to discuss.

She sat the magazine down, listening to the sound of compelete silence throughout the dorm room. What was Kyle doing in his room, because of her, it sounded a whole lot of nothing. It suddenly occurred to her that he was maybe trying to ignore her. So, Brooke decided to go to his room.

"Hey babe," she said, cheerfully sitting on his bed.

He smiled at her, "Hey, you finish up that reading?"

She shrugged, "Somewhat. So, whatcha doing?"

"Just you know, unpacking still. It's like just when I think that I'm done with everything, there's another unopened box."

"Yeah, I know what you mean about that," she said, studying his face, trying to find anything that could give her a sign, but she couldn't fine one. It was just no emotion, and from her experience, that was the worst.

Kyle glanced at her from the corner of his eye, knowing what she was thinking and what she wanted to say. Whne you're in love with someone, you can feel what they feel and know what they want to say before they say it.

He sighed, "Alright, I know you want to talk to me about something."

"Well, I was hoping you wanted to talk to me about it, but lately it seems like I'm the one having to initiate it."

"Brooke, I don't know what you're talking about," he tried to say convincingly.

"Kyle, don't do that. Something is wrong with you, and you're not telling anyone what's going on, and it's really starting to worry me," she said.

"What could I possibly be doing that's making you guys worried about me??"

"Umm I don't know, maybe the fact that you're being so rude to everybody lately, not even trying to be nice. That's not like you, everyone knows that's not you, so when you do something like that we all know something's wrong, you're just not telling me."

"Brooke, yes I have been stressed about getting here on time and with everything that's going to happen in college, yes I'm a little tweaked. It's not because of anything else except me being nervous and worried about basketball and keeping my grades up."

Brooke looked at him, "You said we would never have this problem talking to each other. You promised me you would let me all the way in, remember?"

He nodded, "Yeah, I remmeber, and I meant it. And I still do, but this thing that you guys are worrying over, it's nothing. If it was something I thought was important, I would tell you."

"You promise?" she asked.

"I promise." He didn't know if she believed him or not, but he was taking what he could get. And if Brooke believed him just this one time, it saved him another day of having to explain himself, and another sleepless night of dreaming of his fear and all the while wondeirng if he should've told her.


	6. The Bond That Wouldn't Break

**A/N:** Sorry for the lack of update. School has really been kicking my butt, and so has this story. I was kind of lost as to where to go. The direction that i wanted to go in was kind of a complicated thing because i still wanted the gang to experience college life without all these serious issues surrounding them. Now if you read The Tangled Web We Weave, then you know about Manny and Leo. kyle's cousin and uncle. If you vaguely remember them, but don't really know thier role, then i suggest you go back to the story and read the chapter that lists the family members. But Manny and the rest of Kyle's cousins are going to play a big role in the story. Enjoy and review!!

OTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTH

The Bond That Wouldn't Break

He chuckled, traving the letters with his finger, "After all the trouble they went through to break in, do you think they could've been a bit more subtle about it?"

The words, 'It's only a matter of time before you're six feet under' isn't really the most hardest message to understand. Neither was the fact that whoever this was, really hated him and his family.

It was a new hours built in Boston, and already there were different memories scattered here and there. Everyone had already adapted to it and all it's spacious glory. The females of the family had their antique objects and furniture all over the house, each familty getting one wing of the house, then the center where veryone hung out anyways. It was a weird arrangment, but at least they knew where each other were in a time and situation like this.

Mannny didn't know why exactly they moved their affairs to Boston of all places, but it was somewhere nice where they could open up new territory on the Boston Harbor, and maybecatch some other business opportunities. This was his and his cousins' time now, and they were going to run it how they wanted, regardless of location.

"This isn't a joking matter, Manny. Do you realize now that we're going to have to be a lot more careful? This is the second message in the past two weeks," Tony said, his face reading worriness.

Manny shook his head, "Don't worry, cousin. We shouldn't get way in over our heads for nothing. WHoever's doing this isn't very experienced. First off, they left the paint can in the trash," he said, picking the handle up with a cloth.

Miguel smirked, "We also know that whoever did this is a dumbass. We'll trace this paint can easy, and if we can't find out who the finger prints link to, then we can figure out where they bought the paint at, and go from there."

Manny nodded, "Yep. We better get some guards over to North Carolina to keep an eye on Kyle at Duke."

Raymond looked at him, "You think Kyle's in danger as well? I thought after last spring that would mean he wouldn't be involved in anything anymore."

"That's what it was supposed to mean, but that was towards Rosali. WHoever's doing this obviously isn't that smart, and we don't know them, which is definitely going to be the hard part."

"I think we should assemble a meeting or something, it can't be just us they're after. It's not like we're the most powerful family in the world," Tony said.

Miguel smirked, "Yeah, but we're close." Raymond rolled his eyes while staring at the joint artistic message scrawled across the whole wall. It was hard to imagine that someone could break into the Giovanni mansion with all it's splendor, and the occasional guard wandering with a gun at it's side, order to shoot with anyone you're not familiar with.

"Well, look on the bright side," Tony said. "At least no one was home whenever this happened. Not even the maids. I'm not very good at Spanish, but I think they said something about going to the market for 'la cena.'

"That's all very good, Tony, but where the hell were the guards when all of this was going on? They're supposed to be guarding the premises, no one should've gotten in or out."

Manny nodded, "He's right about that. I think we're going to have to pull a meeting with all of them, maybe kick out a few, or maybe just kick their ass. But this shouldn't happen again."

"I got to get going on this paint can," Tony said, putting it in a plastic bag, "we could probably figure out where it came from by the end of the day."

"We still need someone to get on all the guards," Manny said quietly.

Miguel smirked at Raymond, "Raymond, I think you should be the one, man. We all knwo you scare the shit out of them."

Raymond stood up rolling his eyes, "I'll get to that right now. Then I'll get in touch with somebody to paint over this, Lord knows what Mama will do if she sees this written on the wall," he said.

"Oh, and while you're yelling at the guys, send the ones that weren't on duty to North Carolina," Manny called over his shoulder, still studying the message. It was cut and dry, and it was something easy to understand, but it did give him a bit if wariness and confusion.

Miguel put his hands in his pockets, "So you really think Kyle's in danger?"

Manny shrugged, "Who knows. I'd like to think it was just a coincidence, that he can't be linked to this, but I can't help but think it has everything to do with him."

He sighed, "Well, in that case, we're going to need as many guys as we can in North Carolina."

Manny slowly shook his head, "No, I think I'm going to go also."

Miguel looked at him, "Are you serious? Manny, I don't think that's such a good idea. We need to be here, working, all of us. You can't be down in North Carolina when Kyle's probably not even a target."

"I know, I know. But I just want to make sure he's alright, and that there's no doubt that he's not going to be affected."

"Are you going to tell him?"

"Hell no. The less he knows, the better."

"That's what you said the last time. Feeling a tad bit of deja vu coming on don't you?" Miguel asked before leaving the office, the red paint running through Manny's head like a bad dream.

-

Brooke groaned, "Are you sure we have to go to class today?" It was the first day of classes, and she was a serious wreck. Of course no stranger could tell just by looking at her with her True religion Jeans and a crisp white Hollister polo shit, her hair scrunched and her make up to perfection. She exaimed Kyle's outfit, which consisted of a black Abercrombie polo shit and khaki shorts. They looked like they were still in high school.

Kyle laughed, "Brooke it's the first day of our freshman year of college, you don't want to skip through your first day. It's not logical, and I know hwo you're just itching to sit through our business management class."

"Haha, you're very funny Boyfriend," she said, watching as Kyle got his backpack ready, her bag already at her feet.

"I know. But look at it this way, the sooner we get through these classes, the sooner we get to see each other," he said, leaning down and capturing her lips.

She glared at him, "Man, I hate it when you do that. It's not fair."

Kyle smirked, "Brooke, I'm just sexy like that. You knew that a long time ago. Now come on, we can probably grab some breakfast." He held his hand out.

"Breakfast?!? Ican't possibly eat now when my stomach is doing flip flops on it's own accord! Babe, I'm so freaking nervous, and all you can think about is eating?" She exclaimed as they walked down to the hall.

"Actually, yes I can," he replied. "There's no reason to be nervous. All you have to do is pay attention and actually learn something. This isn't like high school, so we're all going to have to make adjustments."

"I hate this college life. I wish it was like high school," she moaned.

"Oh whatever," he laughed. "You're just excited about it that's all. Plus we have like three classes together, so it won't be that bad. How many classes do you have with Peyton?"

They got in line for breakfast: sausage, egg, and cheese biscuits with fruit and orange juice. Brooke scrunched her nose, "Kyle, do you have any idea how many calories are in that?"

He shrugged, "Personally, I don't care, but all I know is that it looks good. I don't know why you're concentrating on what's in it anyway, you're not fat."

She rolled her eyes, "Yes, but I will be if I surrender myself to this madness that is college food."

"Hey guys, what's up?" Haley asked as her and nathan made their way over to their circular table.

Kyle pointed at Brooke, "Please make her stop talking about how horrible this food is."

"I was just saying," Brooke trailed, taking a bite out of her biscuit anyways, causing Kyle to roll his eyes and Haley to laugh.

"Yeah? Well it's free so I'm eating it," Kyle said, taking an even bigger bite.

"Hey that does look good. I'm going to go get us some," Nathan said quickly as he got up and made his way over to the line.

"So, how long have you guys been here?"

"Just got here actually. Brooke was whining earlier about how nervous she was, and I was hungry, so we came here."

Brooke smacked his shoulder, "Whatever. Haley, you're nervous too, right?"

"Well actually, I'm pretty excited about it. I mean, it's the first day of our college experience, I don't really think we should be all nervous about it."

"Thanks for the help Hales," Brooke said as Nathan came back to the table.

"So Kyle, you ready for practice first period," Nathan asked, digging into his food.

He shrugged, "Yeah, I guess. But do you really think Coach K is going to be riding us that hard? I mean, we still have a whole day of classes after that."

"I don't know. But our first game is in less than two weeks," Nathan replied.

"Ooh, that's right! Haley, when's the whol try out thing for the cheerleading? Brooke asked anxiously.

Haley rolled her eyes, still wondering how she got pulled in to trying out for collegiate cheerleading, "It's tomorrow afternoon at like 3:30. So don't worry, you still have time."

Brooke sighed in relief, "That's good. God, I can't wait until I get out there and show them..."

Nathan snorted, "Brooke, you do realize that you're not automatically going to become captain right?"

She frowned, "Why the hell not?"

Kyle smirked, "Well, because you're a freshman now, and freshman aren't allowed to become the captain right when they get there. It just doesn't work that way."

Brooke's eyes widened, "So you mean that I'm starting alll the way from the beginning?" It hadn't occurred to her before. Knowing that she was going to be bosses around be someone didn't take to her too well, and frankly it made her wish she was a bit nicer to the lower classmen at THH.

Haley nodded, "Yep, pretty much."

Brooke groaned for the third time that morning, "This is going to suck."

-

He didn't even tell anyone he was leaving. It wasn't like they could possibly understand. Nobody could understand why he was going all the way to North Carolina, to Duke University, to look after someone that probably wasn't in any danger. But they didn't know, they didn't know the half of it, and in no way was Manny plannin on telling them anything.

Going at 95mph, he tried to think of a plausible explanation to explain to Kyle why he was there. Business, just a visit perhaps? He wouldn't buy it, he would want to know what was going on, and just maybe Manny would have to tell him.

He probably wouldn't have been so concerned if Kyle had no called him before. When he first heard of those dreams, he didn't think that much of it. It was only last night, reading that message on the wall, that he started to get worried about it. If Kyle was having these dreams, maybe it concerned him too. It wasn't a guarantee, but he'd rather looked into it.

Manny had no idea where he was going to stay, or even how long he would be gone. He had a duffel bag full of clothes and his truck for the next some odd days or even weeks. He knew his father was going to kill him when he knew that he was out of town without tellling anyone, but Manny shrugged at the thought. They would all get over it, if in fact Kyle was in danger.

He stared at his cell phone, wondering if he should call Kyle and let him know that he was coming down there. At first it seemed like the stupidest idea ever, mainly because he would have to explain to him why. But when he really thought about it, maybe he should in advance; alot can happen in a mere couple of hours, or more like a whole day of driving.

Whatever this was, was bigger than himself, possibly anything else that he had seen in his lifetime. He had to protect the people he cared about, even Kyle and his friends in North Carolina. What exactly he was going to do, he had no idea. But he was oging to be at Duke in a matter of hours, and for now that was all he could do.

The ringing of his cell phone broke out through the quiet silence of the car. He glanced down at it and saw a picture of his cousin, Miguel, flashing on the screen. Miguel was the youngest out of all of them, adnd Manny felt more bonded to him more than anyone. Miguel didn't like to take things too seirously all the time, and he was always the laid back one, who's plans turned out to be the best. Manny thought that out of anyone, Miguel would understand.

"Yeah, man?" Manny said into the phone, like nothing was going on.

"Don't play that shit with me Manny. Where the hell are you?" Miguel demanded, his low voice striking a string of worry in Manny's mind.

He sighed, "I'm on my way to North Carolina."

Miguel laughed sarcastically, "That's real great, Manny, just leave without anybody knowing. Oh, and while I'm talking to you, just do you know someone was seen following Theresa around town."

His heart stopped. Someone was tailing his stser, which was under no circumstances, good. "What? What happened? Is she alright?"

"Calm down, she's fine, although we're never letting her out of the house by herself ever again. She noticed a strange man following her, and when she freaked out she came straight home. The dude's gone, but we're still on the lookout for any other person that would tail the family."

"That's good, just make sure that everyone that leaves the house has a guard with them," Manny said, nodding to himself.

"Welre already on that. But it still doesn't take away whatever you're doing. Manny, why did you even leave? I thought you said that you were going to send guards down to North Carolina."

"I was, that was the plan. I wasn't planning on telling you, but I guess I might as well. Look, Kyle's been having these dreams this summer about something bad happened, like mob related. And now with this whole threatening message thing, it all connects, man. I'm not sure if that's really what it is though, but I'd rather be down here and watch him and his friends."

"But Kyle's not involved in it anymore, Manny. Plus, even if Kyle's dreams to protain to the message, what makes you think that they're going to come after Kyle? For all we know, nobody knows about him."

"Miguel who are you trying to kid? Of course they know about Kyle, and maybe that's the point, they don't think we think that Kyle's going to be in any danger. So I'm just going to go down there for a couple of days and make sure everything's in check. Then I'll head back up there and figure out who this person is."

"Okay, now if that was all you were planning on doing, why jus tall of a sudden leave without telling anyone?"

"I don't really know. This seemedl ike something that no one would believe, I guess. I didn't really want to be telling everybody what I was doing. You can never get away without explaining in our family."

"Well, I believe you, why not let someone else know, like Uncle Leo or Tony?"

Manny rolled his eyes, "Yeah, Miguel, like Tony's going to believe anything I say. But in all truth, I'm glad that you know what I'm talking about, it's just that I don't want to attract too much attention that I'm done. Other people will start wondering too."

"So what do you expect me to do? Just act like I have no idea that you're driving south to Duke to protect Kyle?" Miguel asked.

Manny smirked, "Actually, that's exactly what I expect you to do. You're a good liar, they'll surely believe you."

"You know, you really owe me when your ass gets back up here," Miguel said. "I'm way too good to be using my talents on you."

"Whatever. This will all work out in the end, and if it turns out that I"m wrong, that Kyle really isn't in trouble, then we'll drop it and move on with the situation--"

"But something tells you that you're right, that there's something to worry about in this case?" Miguel asked, completely voicing what Manny had been thinking.

He sighed, "In a way, yes. I don't know if it's because of his dreams, but I can't shake this feeling that there's more to this than just someone that wants to mess with us. I think they want to take down all of us."

"Then I guess all I can say is good luck with that. I won't tell anybody where you are if you promise to call and let me know what's going on down there," Miguel said warniingly.

"I cant live with that, and I promise," Manny said, passing the sign that read 'Welcome to Tree Hill.'

"and just so you know, your phone is never going to stop rining, man," Miguel said. "God, everyone is going to think that you're dead, lying a ditch somewhere."

Manny winced, "Yeah, that's occurred to me once of twice, but if it gets that bad, you need to call me so I can calm them down or something. But I'm still not saying a word at where I'm at."

"Alright fine. I'm at the hardware store right now trying to figure out who exactly bought that paint can. All I can figure out is that whoever bought it purchased it at 10:43 p.m. about four days ago."

"There's nothing else?" Manny asked, his stomach dropping. If they couldn't figure out the source of the paint can, then all hope of finding out who did this was lost.

"Not right now, but what the hell do I know, I just got here. I'll keep browsing around, maybe hit up some of the other family's restaurants or something, see if they know anything about it," Miguel said.

"You can do that, but you better watch your ass, Miguel. We can't have you asking the wrong people and then ending up in the hospital."

"Ahh whatever. Alright man, I'll talk to you later, keep my updated."

"I will," Manny said before hanging up and setting his phone back in the cup holder.

So maybe this was going to be harder than he thought. What with Miguel now knowing where he was, and the whole family at their wits about his current location, it would be impossible to be able to keep a steady eye of Kyle. His famiyl would think he was dead, which meant that they would potentially be asking Kyle if he knew anything, which of course meant that he would have to go 100 mph to Duke, so that maybe he could run interference.

His foot pressing on the gas even harder, Manny ran a hand over his face. At this point, he didn't know what he was getting himself into.

-

There was no other way to start off the first day of college than to have it pouring like there was no tomorrow. Originally, the day had looked to be beautiful, with a cool breeze. But that was out of the question as Kyle stared out the window in his Business Management class, aching to be in his dorm room, not having to listen to Professor Matthews go on and on about charts and presentations.

Things had been going pretty well up until this class. Turned out coach K didn't ride his platers hard when it came to regular class days, it was the weekends where he would work out to a pulp. His other classes turned out to be alright, seeing as he had his friends in basically all of them. The only person that he sort of knew in this class was this guy named Shawn, who played guard on the basketball team.

If he wasn't having such a grand time, he could only imagine how Brooke was doing in her class, Computer Programming. Now Kyle wasn't exactly syre if she was liking it or not, but from the ten firty text messages she had sent him since the beginning of class, he could only imagine she was taking a liking to it at all. Kyle dind't want to be a bad inflience, so he had only replied to her textes a couple of times, hoping that meybe she would get the hint and actually concentrate, even though he found that highly unlikely.

Staring at the clock, he had only ten more minutes until the bell rang, and he was done with his first day. After he was planning on dedicating the rest of his evening to hanging out with his girlfriend. The lie and secrets he was keeping can't have been good for him to hide from Brooke, she didn't deserve that. But he just couldn't.

He had heard from nathan that Rachel had planted the seed in Brooke's head that he wanted to sleep with her, which was the reason he was being so mean. that was far from the truth. In all honesty, him and Brooke weren't even stable enough to have sex, hell, he couldn't even discuss his feeling with her. Kyle and Brooke had just started becoming a couple after so long of just thinking of each other as friends.

But when it all came down to it, he loved her undoubtedly more than he thought possible. Maybe he didn't show it, but he did. There was alot he would have to work on concerning their means of communication. He had seen first hand that trying to make things work was hard, that it was going to take alot of time. Kyle was willing to use as much time as he would, without wanring anyway.

There was a possibility that maybe he was just doing this for absolution, to excuse his lies that he was telling anf keeping away. But he felt like he had a chance to make things right without anybody knowing he was doing wrong. Maybe it wa sbetter that it stayed that way.

He sighed in relief as the bell rang, capping his pen and slinging his backpack over his shoulder, wanting to get out of there as fast as he could. If he remembered correctly, Brooke's class was just a few doors down from his, and he was pretty sure she was taking her sweet time adjusting her outfit and fixing her hait correctly before walking out of class.

"Wow, for someone that wasn't feeling this class, you left pretty late," he said, leaniing against the wall as she came out.

She sighed dramatically, "Oh you know me, i just love learning about making spradsheets and presentations. Like I'm really going to be usign that when I become famous."

He laughed, "Who knows, you just might have to. So, tell me, how bad was it?"

"So boring with a capital B. Like all the dude was talking about is what we'll be learning, and then he went into talking about how to actually use a computer, which is completely retarded since he's teaching college freshman, of course they know how to turn their computer on. Then there was this little speech that he made, talking about himself, and for some off reason I have no idea what he was talking about," she rambled on.

"So I'm guessing you don't even remember his name, right?" he asked shortly as they left the hall and entered the breeze way, the rain threatning to splash them if they didn't move farther away.

"Honestly? Nom and I don't really think it matters anyway. Oh gosh, why did it have to rain on this day??" she groaned, her notebook serving as her shield.

"I don't know, but at least the day if over and stuff, you know?" he asked, shaking the rain out of his hair.

"Hmm, maybe, but personally, I think it's a sign," she replied, readjusting her shirt, acting like she had said nothing peculiar, even thogh Kyle never expected Brooke to say anything normal.

"A sign?" he raised his eyebrows. "A sign for what?"

"That is was a huge mistake for us to even attend classes today," she answered simply. "I mean, come on, has this day turned out ot be all you had hoped for from Duke? Hell no. So the excessive rian and the ruined Jimmy Choos sttest for the fact that today was just not a good day to get out of bed."

He shook his head, "Maybe you're right. But we did get out of bed, and we did go to class. SO there's really nothing we can do to change that now. This was just the first day Brooke, it's not going to be like this for your whole college life."

She nodded, "I know, ti's just kind of weird being in college no. I feel like I'm still stuck in high school mode or something."

Kyle nodded undetstandably, but Brooke knew what he meant. He meant to just give it a couple of weeks, and then she would most likely be adjusting and actually liking college. she knew in a matter of time he would be right, which was probably why he hadn't even bothered to say it. They continued to walk towards their dorm rooms, basking in a confortable weird silence, the tappong of the rain the only sound.

The last actualy conversation they had together, Kyle was lying to her face, saying that nothing was bothering him, that he was just nervous about college. he couldn't even remember the last time he told her he loved her, nor could he remmeber the last time they had an honest conversation. Was he folling himself? It had been hard pining after Brooke, then giving up, and then just when he was about to give up, he fought for her again. He dind't want to fo through all those notions again, nor did he want her to feel that he dind't appreciate her.

"You know that I'm sorry, right?" he asked finally, breaking the silence and tension that had been in the air for nearly five minutes.

She looked at him in confusion, "Sorry for what?"

He shrugged, looking into the courtyard, "I don't know, everything I guess. I know I haven't exactly been the best person to be around, and that's my fault. I've been trying to deal with my own problems, my own fears and stuff that I kidn of let out on you guys, when I probably shouldn't have been dealing with them on my own in the first place."

Brooke nodded, "I know it's hard to let people in, hell, it took me basically my whole life. But that was because I didn't have anybody there for me, except you and Peyton. But you have so many people that want to help you, and listen to you, because God knows you have listened to them."

"I know that now, but it doesn't mean that I didn't know it back then either. I just didn't want to have to explain myself for the things that I feel or do, it's just always been that way. But I promised you that I would let you in, and I'm going to from now on."

"Good, because I want to be able to help you."

"Good, because I might be needing it. You also know that I love you, right?"

She looked up at the sky jokingly, "Hmm I don't know. I guess I do, but it's not like I've heard it very recently."

He grinned at her, "Okay, well Brooke Penelope Davis, I love you with all my heart, so I'm telling you right now, and I'll tell you many more times, because I know there will be days when I don't know it, but I do."

"That's good to know, becaues I need to hear that to know that it's true," she said quietly.

He stopped her, "It's true, and I'll tell you every single day if I have to, I want you to know hwo happy you've made me, and how much you taught me without even knowing it."

She blinked while smiling, "I really hate it when you do that. I swear one of these days you're going to make me cry."

He laughed, swinging an arm around her, "Oh yeah? Well please don't, I don't think it would give me a great feeling to know you cried because of something sentimental I said."

She turned and faced him, "That's because you don't need to, you saved me, you loved me, that's all I ever wanted from anybody, and I got it from you. So you really don't owe me anything."

He groaned, "Will you please stop saying that? I never did anything for you, except maybe cause you pain and hurt you. you don't owe ne anything. I owe you everything."

Brooke looked at him, "Alright, you owe me? You want to do something for me?"

He nodded, "Anything."

She smiled, "Other than what you have already done, all you can do from this point is love me. Love me, and that will make it even. Deal?"

He raised an eyebrow, "Deal. Even though I don't think it would be a problem. Don't worry, I'll have no problem coming through, because honestly i think I could keep that promise forever."

Brooke inhaled in happiness, "Good. So now that we got that covered, I don't have homework. What do we do?"

Kyle smirked, "I'm pretty sure I could think of a few things."

-

Alright, so maybe it wasn't such a good idea to tap into the Duke database on his laptop from inside his car, the rain pouring like a freaking rainfall, and maybe it wasn't such a good idea to find out Kyle's dorm room number and sneak in, and maybe it wasn't a good idea for him to be pacing the well sized room, not even bothering to let Kyle know that he was within twenty feet of him, and not even knowing it.

How was he going to explain this one? 'Hey Kyle, I was around the area and thought I'd stop by??' Not exactly the approach Manny was looking for. So far he had gotten quite a few missed calls and voicemails from his family. he knwe he was going to have to talk to them eventually. Miguel was right, he couldn't have gotten away with this and not have anyone looking for him.

He surveyed the room, quite impressed for a college dorm room. A set of windows were stationed next to the couch, about ten feet away. manny stared at it, in his head trying to calculate the distance. Maybe he could secretly have some guys install a set of bullet proof windows or something.

Manny began pacing even faster, wanting to kick himself in the head to even be thinking about that. he tried to convince himself that Kyle wasn't in danger, and maybe he wasn't. So why was he here? He had no idea. But Manny had learned from first hand experience that if you have a bad feeling about something, you sure as hell better look into it, instead of brushing it off your shoulder. Because if you didn't, someone could end up dead.

He checked his watch, which read 5:55. From what he skidded over when he was in the Duke database, classes ended at 5:30, so where the hell was Kyle? It wasn't like it took a whole half house to get across campus, but who knows, he could've been with Brooke.

Manny wondered if this whole dream thing had an effect on their relationship. Manny hadn't formally met Brooke, but from what he had heard, Kyle was so crazy about her. If he knew one thing, if it turned out to be something serious, it would sure as hell do something to their relationship.

Then he heard his phone ringing, for probably the fiftieth time that day. He pulled it out of his pocket and checked the caller ID: Miguel. He sighed to himself. Answer, or no answer? it could've been something important, maybe a lead on the paint can, or maybe it wasn't Miguel. It could've been Tony who had just jacked Miguel's phone when he wasn't paying attention. He was willing to take the chance.

"Hello?" he said calmly into the phone, his heart doing flip flops.

"Damn't Manny, your owe me so much when your ass gets back here," Miguel hissed.

Manny sighed in relief, "I thought it was probably someone else. Yeah, I know Miguel, I owe you big time, you don't have to remind me. So, what's all going on up there?"

"Don't even get me started. Well besides the fact that I can't find one damn person that purchased that freaking paintcan, everybody's going crazy at home, trying to figure out where you are. At first they thought you were abducted or something, but they got that idea out of their head quickly. Natalie suggested you were dead, but I paid her ten bucks to stop saying that. Your mom has been going psycho bitch of everybody. And on top of that, Uncle Leo is like, an inch away from murdering somebody. It was bad enough Tony got onto the Delacruz family, so now we're so close to conflict with some other family too."

"Wait, wait, wait. So you mean to tell me that Tony's now starting trouble with Delacruz? Why in the hell would he do that? They're the ones that let us know about the shipment in the first place. Not to mention they're out allies."

"That's exactly what I said, but they have no fucking idea where you are, Manny. Honestly, I think that you should maybe call and let everyone know you're okay," Miguel said.

"Man, I was hoping I could've went more than a day without them going crazy," he said uneasily. once again, he was stuck with the decision of how he was going to explain this.

"Looks like you're going to have trouble with that. Do me a favor and call them later on tonight, or tomorrow morning. I don't know how much longer they're going to wait for you before they start looking."

Manny nodded, "Alright, I know what you're saying. I'm at Kyle's dorm room right now, waiting for him to get in. After I talk to him and stuff I'll see about calling my dad and letting him know I'm fine."

"Okay, man. Let me know how that does," Miguel laughed.

"Whatever man. Bye," he hung up and sighed. Just as he was putting his phone back in his pocket, he heard two sets of footsteps get closed and closer, and from the way it sounded, whoever that was needed to get a room. He heard raspy giggles and click clacking of heels, and Manny had an awkward feeling arising.

He stared straight at the door, waiting for Kyle to come through with Brooke. He smirked, finding it immensely embarassing for the couple that they were basically having sex standing up, straight entertaining for him. That was certainly a way to take the tention off of why he was here.

The door swung open to reveal Kyle and Brooke giggling hysterically, only having eyes for each other. Both of their shirts were already off, with Brooke's pants already unbuttoned. They sure didn't waste any time. In a way Manny felt proud, Giovanni men were known for their suave attitude towards women, and it amazed some people as to exactly how short a time it took them to completely woo a lady into bed before the night was over.

Manny looked at both of them innocently, a smirk and look of amusement all over his face.

Kyle looked up briefly to turn on the light, to see it already turned on. He snapped his head in Manny's direction, a look of shock and confusion. Brooke stood there, looking so lost, like it was something she would never be able to understand.

"Hey Kyle," Manny said simply, taking in the sight of his cousin and girlfriend.

Kyle gulped, "Umm, hey Manny. Well, isn't this a surprise? What are you doing here anyway?"

Manny shrugged, "Oh well you know, I was around the area and thought I'd stop by and catch up. It's been awhile."

Kyle saw right through it. It was something, and he wasn't exactly sure what it was yet, but he intended to find out before the day was over. Brooke continued to stand next to him, oblivious as to what was going on.

"Oh sorry. Brooke this is my cousin Manny. Manny, Brooke," Kyle said, gesturing towards the two of them, rubbing the back of his neck.

Manny smiled and shook her head, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I've heard so many nice things about you."

Brooke raised an eyebrow, "Really? What kinds of things?"

Kyle laughed, "Is that really necessary?"

Brooke shrugged her shoulders, "Not really, but I'm going to find out anyway. I'll leave you two alone to catch up. Manny, nice meeting you. Kyle, I'll see you later." She nodded her head and smiled before leaving. The door didn't even shut before Manny was laughing.

"Well, that was awkward."

Kyle groaned, "Yeah well I didn't know your ass was going to be here in the first place. How'd you find out where my dorm was anyway?"

"You should know by now that I can hack into any database imaginable," Manny said coolly, his hands in his pockets.

"Alright, if that's what you're going with these days," Kyle said, getting two Cokes from the refrigerator.

"So, when's Lucas supposed to get back?" Manny asked, wanting to have as much time as possible with Kyle before being interrupted by someone who didn't need to know.

"Well he usually spends the afternoons over at Nathan and Haley's apartment. I think it's a little bit weird still seeing me and Brooke together and all," he explained, throwing a Coke over to Manny.

"I would feel weird too if I had to walk in on that after a grueling day of classes," he smirked.

"Dude will you shut up about it? Now, what is it that you're really here for, and don't even give me that crap about how you were around the area," Kyle said seriously.

Manny sighed, "Alright, but before I start explaining, I want you to know that I'm not one hundred percent sure about my suspicions, so just like, don't freak out right when I tell you."

Kyle nodded, "Okay, you got it, now explain."

Manny sat down, "Okay, well you remember last month when you told me about those dreams that you're having?"

"Yeah, I remember. you said that there were no problems going on."

He sighed, "Yeah I know, and there wasn't at the time. But something happened. It's not that bad, but someone broke into the house earlier today. They left a threat message in one of the offices. Miguel called me earlier and let me know that someone was failing Theresa around town, which makes it that much fishier."

"Okay, so what does this have to do with you being down here, though?"

"When I walked into that office and saw that message written on the mall, the first thing that popped into my mind was your phone call," Manny said, crossing his arms. "I'm not going to lie to you Kyle. But if this is what I think it is, then whoever left the threat message at the house somehow transgressed to the dreams you've been having."

Kyle stared at the nutrition facts at the back of his Coke can, suddenly losing his thirst for the highly carbonated beverage. This wasn't supposed to happen."

"But, it can't really be that serious, right? I mean, do people even know about me?"

"Kyle, everything is serious, which is exactly why didn't you want you in it in the first place. So far no word has gotten out about you, but it doesn't mean that nobody knows."

"Alright, so it's just you here?" he asked.

"Yeah, see that's kind of the problem," Manny grimaced. "The family doesn't really know I'm here, except for Miguel. In the beginning I was planning on having some guards here watch you for the time being. But the more I thought about it, it seemed better for me to be here since only me and you know about your dreams."

"So you just got up and drove all the way over here, not letting anyone except Miguel know where you were? I bet everyone's dying in Boston."

Manny shrugged, "Yeah, things started getting a little bit serious back home, so I'm going to have to call them tonight and let them know that I'm right."

"This is way too much to hear right now," Kyle groaned, rubbing his temples.

Manny frowned, "Listen, I'm sorry to spring this on you, but I'm just going to be here for a couple of weeks, see if anything happens. After that I'll be out of your hair, and it's like nothing ever happened."

The next five minutes wore on heavily. They both stared out into space, wondering if it really was just a precaution, rather be safe than sorry. Or it was something way bigger than themselves, that any day now, their lives could be taken from them. kyle was way too young to be thinking like this, and Manny was too serious to be thinking anything less.

Kyle shook his head, "It's never really over, is it?" All Manny could do was look at him.


	7. Strike When the Iron's Hot

**A/N: **So it's Christmas time and my boyfriend's out of town, which is turn means that i have tons of time on my hands to update alot more frequently. Normally i wouldn't been faster, but i bought a macbook a couple of months ago and have been writing my chapters on that. only problem is that i can't update chapters on macbook, so i have to transfer them to my desktop computer, well, not really mine, which is why it takes me so long to update. so sorry for the delay, but until fanfiction can make this happen, expect a certain duration of time before another update.

okay so i know im kind of digging a deep hole with this whole mob situation. believe me, i wasn't planning on have it come back up again, but it makes for some good drama. so just read carefully and try to keep in mind everything because it'll be reoccuring in the story. i have everything kind of set in how i want it to go, so it's not going to be this ungodly long story like my previous one lol. i also have another sequel in mind, it's already in the making and it's looking to be pretty good. so depending on how long it takes me to get this story under, i expect the sequel to be up by the end of january or somewhere in february. Enjoy and review!!!

OTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTH

Strike When the Iron's Hot.

It had been a solid week, and so far Manny had yet to show any signs of leaving. Ever since he showed up at his dorm room, Kyle had yet to discuss anything else that protained to the reason he was here. As far as he knew, nothing was going on, and nothing was going to happen, so Manny would have been more useful just going back to Boston and making sure that whoever's doing this was taken care of.

But no, Manny had shown his persistence by being at his dorm room everyday. It caused Lucas to lurk more at Nathan and Haley's, and it caused Kyle to sit there and hang out with his cousin. Brooke, on the other hand, had resorted to staying in her dorm room with Rachel, litsening to the red head go on and on about all these guys that were hitting on her, the usual stuff.

Kyle had explained to Brooke that the reason Manny was here was because he was just visiting, wanting to see how they were all doing, which wasn't completely a lie, since he was really here to see if they were doing alright, and not, well, dead or anything. Brooke understood, but it flamed her up a bit since Kyle was hanging out with Manny the whole time. But hey, Manny was family.

They talked about alot of stuff. Kyle talked about college, basketball, his classes. Manny talked about how every single person in the family was doing, what was going on in their lives. Kyle talked about Brooke and their relationship. Manny talked about the new cars and motorcycles her had purchased. But they didn't talk about that. It's not that they didn't want to. It was just easier to avoid than to get out of.

The two cousins were now sitting on Kyle's couch, playing NBA Live and drinking beer. Both faces reas concentration. Kyle was already ahead by only one point, and if Manny scored this lay up, then Kyle would lose, which was something he was never keen on.

"So how much longer are you supposed to be here?" Kyle asked casually, taking a swig of his beer.

"I know what you're doing. You're just trying to distract me," Manny said, his eyes focused on the television.

"No, even thogh that is a plus. It's just that you've been here for a week already, and so far nothing's been going on, so there's really no reason for you to stay," Kyle explained.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. But I'm also doing business also, so not everything's about you."

"You're allowed to do business by yourself? I thought you were supposed to have the whole family there whenever you made a business transaction," Kyle asked.

Manny remained silent, eyes still firmly planted on the television set, his grip on the controller suddenly whiter than it had been before.

Kyle paused the game and looked at him, "Everyone does know you're down here, don't they?"

Manny sighed, "Well, not exactly everyone, if you know what I mean."

Kyle laughed sarcastically, "That's great, Manny. Now I'm not really one to know that much about this business, but don't you think they're worried about where you are right now?"

"I know, and I've already thought about it. Miguel knows where I am, he knows that I'm fine. He's been trying to steer everyone to believing that I'm doing business, and so far they've remained calm about it. Not exactly lethal, but calm."

Kyle nodded, "Miguel always had been a pretty good liar."

Manny smirked, "That's exactly why I told him. If everyone was getting a little out of hand, he would've called me, then I would've called my dad and letim know that I'm alright. I wouldn't tell them where I am though."

"Why not?"

He sighed, "For alot of reasons. One, being that I don't think it's wise to have everyone know what I'm doing. Another being that i don't think anyone should know about the dreams you've been having because ti's more likely to have someone dismiss them, say they're not big deal when I think they are."

"Do you really think it's that big of a deal?"

Manny shrugged, "I wouldn't be here if I didn't think it was important. I know you hear about stuff like this, but I think it's really happening, like your dreams protain to things that have to do with us. Or even happen to us."

"In my dream, someone had Brooke. So you mean that because I had a dream that Brooke was hurt, that someone's going to come after her?"

"I wish I could tell, but I don't know. There's a possibility it could, a possibility that it could not. I know it's frustrating for you, but there's no answers to this sort of thing. All we acn do if figure out who's behind all this, and take it from there," Manny said.

Kyle shook his head, "I don't want to think about this. I mean, this wasn't even supposed to happen anymore. Things weren't supposed to be this way. You told me that after that night, it would all be over."

"Yeah, I know I promised you that, and I meant it all at the time, but things happen. you're right, this wasn't supposed to happen. This isn't even something you should be dealing with, and when I leave, you won't have to."

But for some odd reason, Kyle didn't know who Manny was trying to convince.

-

The two girls had settled into a long comfortable silence, Rachel painting her toe nails a glittery pink on her bed, Brooke nested on her own bed, reading the newest issue of Seventeen magazine. MTV's the Real World playing quietly on the television set, with Parisa getting into one of the many arguments with Trisha.

It had been this way all week, and so far it didn't look like anything was going to change. Brooke didn't want to talk about it, and for the first time, Rachel wasn't going to push it.

For the past week, college let up for Brooke. She was liking her classes a little bit more, and she wasn't so moaning and groaning about the whole thing. Cheerleading try outs had been the week before, and she had made it, of course, under the jurisdicition of a senior girl. Her name was Ana Brown, and frankly Brooke wanted to rip her face off. But hey, she was the one being directed, and if she had to get in good graces with the captain, she would do it.

Since Kyle was so busy hanging out with his cousin, Brooke resorted to hanging out with just about everybody but him. In the mornings she went over to Nathan and Haley's apartment, hing out there until classes, after school she's go to hang out with Peyton, Jake, and Jenny, then when she got home for the night, she was with Rachel. The only times she ever saw Kyle was during the classes she had with him, and the last period of the day, just so he could say good bye until the next day.

At first she had been okay with it. Manny was Kyle's cousin, and they hadn't seen each other in awhile, so she wanted them to have time to hang out before Manny went back to Boston. But this was just ridiculous. What did thye even do besides sit around and play NBA Live? And to think they were just getting back on track too. Now it seemed like their unification wouldn't happen for awhile.

Rachel blew on her toe nails, "Okay, so I know I'm not supposed to ask, but what the hell are you doing here on a Friday night?"

Brooke didn't look up from her magazine, "I could ask you the same question."

"Remember, I'm learning to expand my horizons away from the likes of alcohol and boys," Rachel explained.

Brooke raised her eyebrows, "Okay, so what happened about all those boys who asked for your number on the first day?"

She rolled her eyes, "Please Brooke. Sure, I gave out my number, but who says I'm even going to hang out with them? I'm not like that anymore. But we weren't supposed to be talking about me."

"I was hoping the attention stirred towards you would draw the attention away from me. But I realize you're not like that anymore."

"Haha, so are you going to answer my question? Or am I just going to have to force it out of you?"

Brooke set her magazine down, "There's nothing to say. Kyle's been spending alot of time with Manny, which leaves me to doing absolutely nothing on a Friday night. There, you happy?"

"Not really," Rachel replied. "When's the last time you actually hung out with Kyle?"

"I don't know. Like, last week before Manny showed up at Kyle's dorm room."

"So you haven't hung out with Kyle for a whole week? What the hell are him and his cousin doing?"

Brooke shrugged, "I don't know. They just hang out. It's not lik ethey hang out all the time though, Kyle has class and basketball practice and Manny's doing business in town I think."

"And you're okay with that?" Rachel asked.

"Dude, of course not. But I just want to give him space to hang out with his cousin. What's so wrong about that?"

"Umm, everything. You haven't seen him in a week---"

"Not a week, I said I haven't hung out with him in a week," Brooke emphasized. "But I've seen him a couple of times everyday since Manny came to town."

"Whatever you need to believe, Brooke. But this isn't right, and you know it."

"What am I supposed to do? Tell him that he can't hang out with Manny?" Brooke asked.

"Not necessarily, but basically yeah," Rachel smirked.

Brooke shook her head, "You are no help what so ever."

"It wasn't my intention to help you. But if it guides you in some way, then you're welcome."

Brooke closed her magazine and threw it onto her desk, "I can't listen to you anymore. I'm going out to get a snack."

Rachel smirked, "I would second guess that Brookeie. We don't want you all chunky for cheerleading practice."

"Oh fuck you," Brooke snapped, shutting the door behind her.

Rachel shook her head smiling and continued to blow on her toes.

-

Wandering from house to house for the last week hadn't been very exciting for Lucas, but it was better than his dorm room. His Ipod in his pocket and his backpack on his shoulders, Lucas was going back to his dorm and going to sleep, with no intention of styaing up and hanging out with Kyle and his cousin.

Ever since classes started, Lucas had resulted to being in classroom to classroom, hanging out in the courtyard with his laptop, and going over to Haley and Nathan's after school, only going abck to his dorm when he was wiped out. It wasn't that he never had a conversation with Kyle, beacause they did, but Lucas didn't want to hang out and try to be friends, and all because of one girl.

He wasn't sure about his feelings for Brooke. It could've been a lot of things, but whenver he thought about Kyle and Brooke together, it made him sick to his stomach. When they had broken up, Lucas had done it gracefully, with all intentions of wanting her to be happy. But as time wore on, he found it harder and harder to just let go of their relationship and start anew. Mainly because he didn't want to let her go, she just didn't know that.

Whenever Brooke was over Nathan and Haley's house, Lucas found it weird being in the same room with her, although he would never know it. To him, it felt like the first time he had met her in the backseat of his car. She made him nervous, made him wonder what else she was capable of.

It comforted him a little to know that Brooke was hanging out with Nathan and Haley, and not Kyle. He wouldn't want to wish her heartache, or anything like that, but he was going crazy, trying to make sense of his feelings. he wasn't sure if he loved her, but he sure as hell felt something.

Walking through the hal lway he passed Brooke and Rachel's room, their voices heard dimly as he passed it completely, the scent of everything girly leaving his nostrils. He stopped in front of his own dorm, hearing the television only. Maybe Manny had gone back to his hotel room?

When he opened the door, Kyle was standing in front of the TV, holding a thiry five pound dumbell in each hand. He face read concentration and problematic subjects. Lucas closed the door behind him and removed the head phones from his ears.

"Hey," Lucas said casually, throwing his backpack on the couch and going to the kitchen.

"Hey, what's up? You just get back from Nathan and Haley's?" Kyle asked, glanving back at him before returning his focused to the television.

"Yeah, Nathan challenged me to a game of NBA Live, and I couldn't say no," Lucas replied.

"I know what you mean, I was playing Manny for like two hours straight a little while ago."

"How long is your cousin supposed to be here anyways?" Lucas asked, opening a Coke.

Kyle shrugged, "I'm not sure. He's here to visit and to also do some business around town. So who knows really."

Lucas nodded, watching the basketball game that was on TV. He didn't really know much about Kyle's family, and he didn't think anybody really did.

Kyle glanced over at Lucas, who was staring intently at the basketball game that was going on. He didn't know what to make of Lucas anymore, but something told him that he needed to keep an eye on the brooding blonde. He set his dumbells on the floor.

"Hey, I'm going to head down to lobby and get some chips or something. You want anything?" Kyle asked, opening the door.

Lucas shook his head, "No, I'm good. I'm just going to turn in for the night and go to bed."

"Alright. See you in the morning, man," Kyle said as he shut the door behind him. He rolled his eyes at Lucas's behavior. It wasn't like he was being an ass towards him either. He was being perfectly nice opposed to how he could've acted.

Walking down the hall, he passed Brooke and Rachel's room. He considered maybe popping in and hanging out for a little bit, but he had pracitce at five in the morning, and Brooke and Rachel were probably asleep, seeing as it was 11:30.

There was so much going through his mind, it was hard to process it all. His most biggest fear had become a reality, and Kyle didn't know what to do. This wasn't suppoesd to be happening, but it did. Now the question was, what could he do about it?

He stopped abruptly, seeing his very own girlfriend, dressed in a white tank top and pink silky pajama pants. She was staring seriously at the machine. He bet she was deciding between a Snickers or a Reeses, which was a hard choice for her. Kyle cocked his head and continued to stare contently at her. he couldn't wait until this whole ordeal was over, it seemed like they could never get a break.

Tip toeing as quietly as he could, he slowly came up behind her. She seemed to be in a big predicament since she didn't notice a single noise. It amazed him sometimes how completely immersed she got into something. He drew back his arms and put them softly around her, feeling her tense up but then let it go, knowing at was him.

"Do you have any idea how much I've missed you this past week? he murmured in her ear, taking in her scent.

She sighed, holding onto his arms, "I think I have some sort of idea."

"I'm sorry that I havne't been around, it's just that Manny's here and all, and I don't want to just leave him hanging. I don't know when's the next time I'm going to see him," Kyle explained.

Brooke nodded, "Yeah I know. I guess I"m just used to having you all to myself or something," she siad, trying not to sound like a posessive girlfriend.

"Problem is, I have no idea when he's going back," he said, staring off into the candy machine.

She turned and looked at him, "It's not, it's not bad or anything, is it?" The question itself striked another set of questions, and then another. Was there more to this then Kyle was letting on? An even bigger question was, would he tell her?

Kyle grimaced, "Not exactly. Manny tells me everything's going to be fine, he's just here as an extra shield, if you will."

"So there is something going on," Brooke declared. She turned around, her brain wondering as to what it could be.

Kyle was caught, and there was no other way he could turn now. But in a way, all he felt was calm, and a whole lot of relief from the whole ordeal. There was no other way he could've went through and not have told her. he could already tell she was angry, but there was nothing else he could do but try to explain, which, in his experience, turned out to be a disaster.

He sighed, "Brooke, I don't want to lie to you..."

"Then don't!" She exclaimed.

"But I don't want to scare you either," Kyle began. "Listen, I told you from the very beginning that I would always be here to protect you, and I don't think telling you what's going on is going to help anything at all."

Brooke shook her head fiercely, "No, don't you dare try to get out of this. You can't just not tell me what's going on, especially if it has something to do with you. I don't care if it scares me or not, I want to know, and if you have ANY ounce of respect for me at all, you'll do it."

Kyle groaned inwardly, she just had to go there. "Alright fine. But I don't really feel comfortable telling you this, out here," he said, motioning to the candy machines.

She sighed, "Meet me out in the courtyard in five minutes, I'm going to go back to my room to grab a sweatshirt."

Kyle nodded, "Okay, see you in five." He turned around and walked as fast and as calmly as he could back to his dorm, hearing her soft footsteps behind him.

He let his door close before fishing out his cell phone and dialing Manny's phone number. Kyle didn't know why he was calling Manny, there was nothing he could possibly do at this point to help him.

"Kyle? Do you have any idea what time it is?" a groggy voice said from the other line.

"I don't really care what time it is. I just thought I'd let you know that I'm telling Brooke the truth, tonight. In like, four minutes to be exact," Kyle whispered, walking into his closet and taking out a hoodie from Holllister, a Christmas present from Brooke a couple of years ago.

"Are you sure that's a good idea Kyle? I mean, didn't you say she was most likely to freak out?" Manny asked, his voice suddenly more awake than before.

"No shit she's going to freak out. But she knows something's up, and I have to tell her," Kyle said, closing the door quietly behind him.

Manny sighed, "It's your call, man. I just thought calling Brooke was something you didn't want to do."

"Believe me, if there was some way I thought I could get out of this, I would've done it already. But I can't do that to Brooke. I'm not in a position right now to hide any more things from her," Kyle explained, walking towards the courtyard.

"Okay, do your thing. I'm going back to bed, but I'll stop by tomorrow and you can tell me how it goes," Manny said.

"Alright, bye," Kyle said, hanging up just as he was approaching the view of the picnic tables. Brooke was already there, sitting down at one of the tables, her hands in her pockets and her knees bouncing up and down from the cold. Usually she was always five or ten minutes late, but her being there before he was said that she was out on a mission, and that was to find out everything.

He didn't dread it, but he didn't welcome it either. The thought of telling Brooke that she was potentially in danger for her life wasn't something he wanted to explain to her. But on the lesser cloudy side, he was telling her the truth, and that had to count for something, right?

"You're thirty seconds late," she said as soon as he sat down across from her.

"Sorry, but it's usually you who's late," he said, his hands in the pockets of his hoodie.

"Yeah, well this is different," she stated.

He sighed before looking up at her. She was staring at him, already expecting him to explain. "Yeah, so I'm guessing you want me to tell you now.."

She chuckled, "Well that would be the purpose of us being out here."

"Yeah, right. Well, you know hwo there was that whole, mob thing a couple of months ago?"

She nodded, "Yeah, the one that almost got me and you killed?"

"Yeah," he said quietly, looking around. "Okay, well after that all happened, Manny and everyone else told me that this was it. That I wouldn't be involved, and they would never need anything else from me. Until last week, when Manny came. He walked into his office last week and saw a threatening message across the wall in red paint. It concerned him a bit, so he came here to watch out for us."

"Does he think that whoever wrote that threat is going to come after you?"

He shrugged, "That's the thing. He doesn't know. It's a possibility, which is why he's here. People in the circuit know about me, and they knwo that I was involved that night a couple of months ago. The way Manny said it, they might try to strike where no one expects. Of course, me."

Brooke wrapped her arms around herself, staring off into the night, her heart hurting at the thought of Kyle ever getting hurt ever again. It was unbearable the last time she had to see him in a hospital bed.

"Why didn't you tell me this?" she asked, her voice already shaky.

"I didn't want to hurt you, or scare you, or make you mad..." he trailed. "I just didn't want you to have to worry about tihs. And it wasn't supposed to be this way. I was supposed to be done with this, and not have to watch my back anymore.

"Well it's not like you can do anything about that now."

He nodded, "I know. I hope you believe me when I tell you that I didn't want to scare you or hurt you. I know what it was like for you the last time you got your heart broken. i didn't want to be another guy to do that to you."

Brooke shook her head, "It's not even about that Kyle. I know you would never do anything to hurt me. But this, whatever it is, scared the shit out of me because I don't want to lost you!"

"You're not going to lose me. I wouldn't be stupid enough to get back involved in that anyway. I thought it was the right tihng, but it wasn't. It wasn't where I wanted to be. This," he said, walking towards her, "is where I want to be. With you, and everybody else."

Brooke stared at him, but she wasn't convinced, "But there's still that part of you that wants all of those other things."

Kyle looked away, he didn't know what to say. "I don't know, I mena, I guess. But it's because they're my family, and I want to help them because I know that's what my mother wouldn't wanted. Helping and protecting my family. So I guess in a way you're right, I want to be there and help to keep everyone safe. But when it all comes down to it, I want to be here with you."

"Just, promise me that you're going to let me know that's going on with this? Because I don't think I could take something happening again."

Kyle wrapped his arms around her, "I promise. I'm not going anywhere."

Believe, or not to believe? Brooke knew deep down in her heart that Kyle would never do anything to hurt her, and that he would much rather be at school, with her. But then there was that other part he just couldn't seem to want to acknowledge. the danger, the brutality, but most of all, the power. She knew that Kyle wanted to know what that felt like, to actually overpower something or someone. Just the thoght of it was enough to have someone's skin tingle with excitement. But Brooke also knew that he would never admit that.

-

"He knows something. I'm telling you," Raymond hissed to Tony.

They were walking towards Miguel's family's wing, on a mission, and that was to get something out of their cousin. It hadn't occurred to Raymond until now, that his usually loud, sarcastic, smartass of a cousin had resorted to being very reserved, and less opinionated about the whole matter. And that could be only one thing: Miguel knew exactly where Manny was.

"Of course he does. He didn't exactly be discreet about it," Tony replied as they walked in the dark, the moonlight pouring through the open windows, bullet proof to be exact. It was late at night, but the two cousins had to get answers. This was no longer a game, far from it.

There had been another message. This time it was located in the family room, where just about everybody hung out at. No one, no one, could figure out how they had gotten in here, let alone have enough time to even paint a message across the walls. Not only could the paint cans not be traced, but no one knew anything about this. No one, not even other families. The creeps who were doing this was gunning for the Giovanni's and the Giovanni's only.

"God man, we better get this figured out or I think I'm going to have to shoot someone," Raymond said harshly, and something told Tony that he wasn't kidding. Raymond always was the more brutal of them all.

"We're going to get to the bottom of this right now," Tony replied. "If we can't get a trace to that fucking paint can, maybe we can get some answers as to where the hell Manny's been for the past week and a half."

They walked straight into Miguel's bedroom, where he was already asleep. Different laptops lined his desk, and next to his bed was a cabinet, one that every male in the family had: the gun stash. Miguel was fast asleep, holding onto his pillow for dear life.

Raymond didn't even waste any time before he smacked Miguel upside the head, causing his head to swing off the bed, his eyes squinting in the moonlight, the signature Giovanni honey hazel tiger eyes peering up at his two cousins. Raymond and Tony just stood there, arms crossed, with their suits still on, their jackets disposed and their shirt sleeves rolled up. Miguel didn't even need to ask to know that he had blew his cover. _Manny's going to kill my ass for this._

"Guys, what the fuck? Do you have any idea what time it is?" Miguel whined, covering his head with his pillow.

Tony grabbed a handful of Miguel's hair, "Do you have any idea how much fucking trouble you're in?" If this was something even close to being stupid, Tony wouldn't have been so rough with his cousin. But in the end, Miguel was a dumbass, and in this case, Tony was completely entitled to do whatever he wanted with him.

Miguel chuckled nervously, "Okay, I guess you guys need to know something."

Tony threw Miguel's head back down, "You better start explaining before I shove your ass out of the window."

Miguel rubbed his head, "But you didn't have to grab my hair, man. I was going to tell you eventually, but--"

"But what?!?" Raymond hissed. "But you forgot?!?! But you didn't think it would be a big deal?!?!"

"No! I didn't say anything because Manny asked me not to say anything. God, how hard is it to understand secrecy?"

"It's hard when you're a dumbass in keeping a secret as important as this. Do you have any idea what could've happened if we all really thought Manny was dead?" Tony asked.

"I know, I know, and I told Manny that, but he just kept telling me to steer you guys to believe that he was fine," Miguel said.

"Alright, enough of that. Why wouldn't he tell us where he was in the first place?"

"Because he was somewhere wher you guys didn't want him going, and he thought he should be down in North Carolina watching over Kyle for a little bit," Miguel said quietly.

Raymond chuckled, "Well, that's rich. He's down there watching Kyle, who isn't even in any danger--"

"I would think twice about that---"

"Shut up! Did he say how long he was going to be gone?" Tony asked.

Miguel shrugged, "No. Probably until he knows that Kyle's going to be safe."

Raymond shook his head, "This is ridiculous. What was Manny thinking going there by himself none the less. He knows that he's supposed to let us know where he's at, what he's doing. That's kind of what we're supposed to do. We run the show, together."

"You guys aren't going to tell Uncle Leo, are you?" Miguel asked.

Tony looked at him, "Why shouldn't we? And while we're at it, why don't we let him in on the fact that you were the one who knew all along, and kept it to yourself."

"Guys come on, give me a fucking break. If I thought Manny was going to be in danger, then I wouldn't told you a long time ago. But he's just there as a precaution, nothing more, nothing less."

"Miguel I swear," Tony began. "If something bad come sout of this, your ass is mine."

Miguel nodded, "Yeah I know. Look, I'm not even supposed to be doing this, but if you really want to know how he is, and if it gets you guys off my ass, then you might as well just use my cell phone and call him. Most likely he'll answer."

"Well do that later, its a bit late for that, isn't it?" Raymond asked. "When's the last time you talked to him anyway?"

"I don't know, earlier today I think? he's been hanging out with Kyle, and hes' already filled him in on why he's there in the first place."

"And what would that be?" Tony cut in.

"I'm telling you way too much than I should," Miguel said. "I promised Manny I wouldn't, and I've already done a lot worse."

Raymond sighed, "In case you've forgotten, we're in this together. Now I don't know what Manny was thinking, going somewhere without telling us. But we have to know what's going on Miguel. If we don't, and our fathers find out, we might get the organization taken right out from under us. Gone. So I suggest you tell us what's been going on if you want to keep your position as the highest in power. This is our chance, Miguel. We can't blow it."

"So technically, you decide. We're going to be around the house for the next couple of days," Tony said, heading to the door.

Miguel raised his eyebrows, "Why?"

He stopped, "Because, someone sent us another message, this time in the family room. So now you can see how important it is that Manny's here."

Miguel fell back onto his bed. What the hell was he supposed to do now? He had already said way too much, basically every single detail, and now there was another threat, which meant that someone had once again managed to sneak back into the house. They were sneaking right in. Manny didn't know yet, but Miguel would sure as hell tell him so he could get back here. Kyle couldn't be in danger when the danger was located right in their very house.

The phone rang several times before he heard a clicking noise.

"I told you Kyle, tell me how it all goes tomorrow."

"Manny," Miguel said seriously.

"Miguel? Sorry, I thought it was Kyle again. What's up, and why are you calling me so early?"

"There's another threat located in the house, this time the family room. Raymond and Tony just came up to tell me. Not only that, but they kind of figure out that I knew something."

"Okay, so you mean to tell me that someone snuck back into the house again, and this time wrote something across the wall in the family room? And once again, no one was home?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. I really think you should get back here," Miguel said.

"I know. I'll be there as soon as I can, and that's all I can do."

"What? Why? Nothing's happened to Kyle and you've already been ther for a week!"

"That's not the point Miguel. I thought you understood this but I guess I was wrong."

"It's not about that, it's about the fact that you're running around in North Carolina unprotected, and we're here with people sneaking into our houses long enough to write death threats. It's not a good time for any of us to be seperated from each other."

"I understand what you're saying, and I'll be there as soon as I can."

"It'll never be soon enough," Miguel snapped before hanging up. He stared at his phone, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do now. He realized that there wasn't time to play games anymore. This was the first problem that they would ever have to encounter as part of the four, and it wouldn't be his last, that was for sure.

Standing up, he opened his closet and begun taking out his suit. If he knew one thing, it was that he was going to be busy as hell for the next couple of days. Which of course meant meetings, meetings, and meetings.

He had just finished dressing when Tony had emerged back into his room.

"Have you already talked to Manny?" Tony demanded.

"I just called him a little bit ago. I told him what was going on, he said he'd be here as soon as he can."

"But that's not good enough. Did you tell him how dangerous this is now? If someone could get into the house for a second time, no one's safe."

"I know, and I tried to explain that to him. But he won't leave right away."

"Once again, that's not enough. He needs to be here!" Tony exclaimed, banging his fist against Miguel's dresser.

Miguel stood up, "Don't you think I know that! Huh? But he won't come, what part of that don't you understand? I tried to get him to come, to be on his way, but in his head, there's something going on with Kyle. Like Kyle needs protection."

"It doesn't really help when he's there single handedly 'protecting Kyle,'" Tony said.

"I know, I know, but that's what Manny has in his head right now, and i don't know, for awhile I thought that if it was something he felt strongly about, then I should just let him be. But even I know that this isn't good when someone's broken in for the second time," Miguel said.

"This wasn't supposed to happen," Tony said quietly.

"That seems to be on everyone's mind lately," Miguel answered back.

He shrugged, "The only thing we can do at this point is to try to figure this out, while protecting everybody. We can't lose anyone."

"I agree, and I'll do anything to help. So, what was written on the wall this time?" Miguel asked.

Tony jerked his head, "Come on, see for yourself."

Miguel followed him al lthe way out of the west wing, both not saying one word. Miguel looked around at the paintings and pictures that lined the walls. He didn't know if it was just him, but the whole atmosphere just got a whole lot more eerie.

They entered the vast open area, the antique couches and tables glistening in the moonlight. Above the fireplace were seperate portraits from different family functions and events.

"Right there," Tony pointed above the fireplace. He stared intently at it, trying to analyze eveyr curve, every slash, every crossed 't' and dotted 'i'.

_'Time is runnig out. Your time is coming.'_

"What the hell..." Miguel trailed, noticing the glitening red paint just starting to dry. "When did they get in here?"

"Well, you can kind of guess from the looks of it," Tony started. "Paint does take some time to dry, but only a couple of hours. Which means that we were still in the house when this turned up."

"How the hell could that happen?" Miguel asked.

"No idea, it blows my mind that this could turn up and none of us heard or saw anything. I was talking to Raymond, and we're thinking about moving everyone out somewhere else for the time being. We don't want someone walking in awhile our visitors leave another message."

"So you think they'll come back again?"

"Something tells me they will. If they came back for this one, they'll come back again."

"Does Uncle Leo know? Does anybody know right now?" Miguel asked.

"Not yet, we just found this not even two hours ago. Everyone's still sleeping, but we'll let them know in the morning. God, they're all going to go on a death rage when they see this," Tony grimaced, 'they're' meaning their uncles and fathers.

"I don't even want to know what they're going to do," Miguel said quietly.

"Me either, which means we're really going to have to step it up and get everyone together and take down whoever did this. It's the first problem we've had since taking over, we can't disappoint them," Tony said.

Miguel continued to stand there long after Tony had left to go see Raymond. Being the youngest didn't stop your responsibilites, not did it stop your importance. Miguel lost his innocence a long time ago, just like everybody else, and he had to help with this. Manny or not Manny, they couldn't let up. He couldn't let up.

Was it a game? Was it a joke? It wasn't to him, but it sure as hell was to whoever was doing this. They were being played.


	8. Mercy

**Author's Note;** I know, I know, this has been a long time coming. I'm not even sure how long it's been since I last updated. It's a very big possibility that everybody probably forgot thsi storyline by now, so if my readers are still out there, it might be a good idea to skim the past few chapters to kind of remember what's been going on. I'm so sorry that it's taken a heck of a long time to update. Things have been pretty hectic with school, and I've been in a rut with this storyline. It's already set in stone with what's going to happen with this story, and the sequel after that. I'm kind of more excited about the story after this one, which has been the reason this story has been so slow. I already have about seven chapters of my next installment, and I can't wait to post it.

This chapter focuses on the nitty gritty part of the mob business. General Hospital is one of my favorite shows, and I've been watching it for about six years now, so the mob part of it has always interested me, and I really wanted to add it somewhere in my stories. I know it must annoy some of you to always have to read about it, but it has a lot to do with what happens next, and what happens will absolutely determine what happens to everybody. There's some Kyle/Brooke action going on also.

Next chapter is going to be the last before I move on to the next story, which is called Three Cheers For Seven Years. You can kind of guess the time period of this story. I'm already halfway done with the next chapter of this story, so it should be up within the next week or two, if I can get ahold of my mom's laptop again.

I'm still working on my other stories too, those aren't on hiatus. Things We Never Thought will still be updated as soon as I finish the next chapter. Enjoy and Review !

* * *

Chapter Eight; Mercy

"Back up all the shipments into next week. If there's no heist of suspicious activity going on by then, send them off," Manny commanded before hanging up his cell phone. Another attack on a shipment, and now the Giovanni family was behind seven figures since 'someone' had been tried to wander in their territory. Raymond along with Tony thought that whoever was doing this was just trying to mess with their head, but Manny knew better, and that was why he was the main guy in the organization.

He had been in Charlotte for some time now, and so far nothing had happened, Kyle wasn't even tailed by a suspicious character. At this point Manny was starting to regret coming down here to protect his cousin. He wanted Kyle safe, that was for sure, but nothing had happened. He wasn't even sure people knew about the cousin that never rose to the surface with his identity as part of the family.

And now his phone was constantly ringing off the hook, all from relatives trying to get him back, and yell at him for being so stupid. Some were from the shipment guys that brought in the goods on the pier, wanting to know what they should do, because they had a problem taking orders from Raymond, who could basically break them in half.

He hated to say it, but things were starting to get ridiculous. And where was he? In Charlotte, where he wasn't really needed. Apart of him blamed himself for the strange acitivty going on back home. If he would've just stayed and handled things, then his family wouldn't have been scrounging around trying to find him and not be one hundred percent focused on catching the freak that was writing demented messages on their walls. It was time to come home.

For the past two and a half months he had rented out a penthouse apartment about two blocks away from the college. It was far enough so he wasn't in Kyle's space, but close enough to be able to get there fast. It was comfortable, but Manny had potentially spent over thirty thousand dollars just for the rent.

He was typing viligantly on his Blackberry when the door opened abruptly, revealing Kyle with a ball in his hand. Manny glanced up briefly before returning to his phone. It wasn't exactly the best time to have his cousin around, especially when he was checking messages from his father.

"Why so serious?"

Manny sighed, "Just business, that's all."

"Something happen again?"

"Just shipments being taken and blown up, again. But I think it's time that I go back home, take care of things."

Kyle nodded, "Yeah, man, I know what you're saying. I mean, I'm fine here."

"I know, I'm not sure when I'm going to take off, I got to talk with Tony and see."

"Why do you have to ask Tony when you can go back up there?"

"Because Tony can get all the safest routes that I can take without getting my car attacked."

"I thought you said you could handle it," Kyle smirked.

"I can, it's just a little hard to handle it whenever there's twelve guys with machine guns."

"That could be it. I'm sorry that you came down for no reason." Frankly he felt bad that Manny left to protect him down here, when there was no need. Where he really was supposed to be was in Boston. Kyle was sure that he was going to be fine here, but he feared for his cousin and the rest of his family.

"It's not your fault. I had a hunch, but I guess I was wrong this time. But that doesn't mean you're not protected here."

"So what? Are undercover guards coming down here in replace for you?" he asked.

"Probably, I just can't be down here when there's madness going on at home. Plus, Raymond and Miguel don't exactly get along when I'm not there."

"It would surprise me if they didn't."

"Yeah, but hopefully when you come back to visit one of them won't be dead."

Kyle chuckled, "Maybe we shouldn't be making jokes about someone dying."

Manny nodded, "Yeah, maybe not."

* * *

"So I know that she's our captain and we're supposed to follow her lead and all, but I seriously want to fucking kill her," Rachel mumbled to Brooke as practice ended and all the girls were collecting their belongings and heading out of the gym. The captain, Ana, remained there, staring at her clipboard, her mind going crazy at all the possible routines.

"Can you really blame her though? She has to come up with crazy cheer routines," Haley said, re doing her hair into a ponytail.

"Okay, but Brooke was in the same exact position as her when we were in high school, and I don't remember her ever being that crazy. I mean, she was a bitch, but she wasn't that much of a bitch," Rachel explained, Brooke rolling her eyes in the process.

"Yeah, but Brooke wasn't running a collegiate cheerleading squad. There's a complete difference."

"Whatever, she's still a bitch," Rachel said.

* * *

"Do they not have maid service here?" Miguel asked disgustingly as they settled themselves in Manny's hotel room. If he could describe it in one word it would be gross. His suitcase was exposed with all his clothes hanging out of it. His laptop was on the coffee table next to about five half empty styrofoam coffee cups, and his bed hadn't been made.

"There's no time for whining. Let's just get all his stuff together," Tony said. Raymond wandered over to Manny's laptop and began looking through it.

"It's called privacy, Ray," Miguel said.

Raymond rolled his eyes, "It's called business. And if there's something that Manny found out that we need to know, then I sure as hell don't feel bad about looking through his computer."

The plane ride had been less than exciting and fun for the three cousins. Miguel wouldn't stop snoring, Raymond couldn't stop hitting him, and Tony couldn't stop thinking of all the possible bad things that could've happened while Manny had been in North Carolina. It was not a smooth ride.

"What the fuck are you guys doing here?" a voice said from the entrance of the room. Three heads shot over to the place of the voice. Manny was standing there with his cell phone in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, completely shocked to see his three cousins snooping through his stuff.

"Hey Manny," Miguel nodded, waving his hand a little bit.

"Once again, what are you guys doing here?"

"We're here to bring your ass back home," Raymond said, shutting his laptop and standing up.

Manny narrowed his eyes, "Not that it's any of your business, but I was just about to call Tony and let him know that I was coming back."

"Hm. Well, this was a waste of time," Miguel mumbled under his breath.

"Well, why now are you deciding that you needed to come back?" Tony asked.

"There's absolutely no reason for me to be here anymore. I've checked everything out, done some research, hung out with my cousin, and so far, nothing's going on here in Charlotte. I was planning on returning by tomorrow morning at the latest."

"So, there's really nothing suspicious going on?" Raymond asked.

Manny shook his head, "Nothing at all."

"I guess we better get back home then, huh?"

"That would be a good idea. Tony, I need the routes to take while I drive home."

"Oh that's right, you drove here. You got a piece of paper?" Manny nodded and went to the dresser where they had the complementary notepad and pen.

"So Kyle's good down here?" Raymond asked.

"Yeah, they just won their first game of the season. I checked his records and so far he's doing good in school. His girlfriend's good."

"Girlfriend? She hot?" Miguel asked, turning the television on.

"Yeah she's something, alright. Kyle's really crazy about her," Manny said. "Anyway, you guys should see him before you leave."

Raymond shook his head, "That's not going to work out. We were planning to basically grab you and hop back on that plane within the next hour."

"Okay, well I guess I better start getting things together."

"That's fine. We'll go get something to eat and the meet you back here," Miguel asked, even though he was talking for his benefit. Airplane food never did the trick for him, and he was pretty sure Tony and Raymond agreed.

* * *

"So you're leaving now?" Kyle asked as Manny stepped into his dorm room.

Manny nodded, "Yep, I just needed to get somethings together before taking off. Miguel, Tony, and Raymond are waiting for me back at the hotel. I still need to check out."

"They're here? Why didn't they come by? I haven't seen them since the funeral," Kyle said.

"They meant to just come here, get me, and get out. And there's the fact that they're jet is scheduled to take off in an hour."

"Yeah I understand. It's not like I won't ever see them," he said, crossing his arms in an awkward way.

Manny nodded, "Yeah, that's right. Listen, you won't have to worry once I'm gone. I know you try to play it off for my sake, and for Brooke's, that you're not a little bit freaked out. That's understandable. But I want you to know that you're going to be safe. That you can take my word for."

Kyle nodded genuinely, "I believe you. And yes, I was a little worried, but not so much anymore."

"Yeah well I have some people that are going to be keeping an eye on you, just in case. And if you notice anything weird, let me know."

"Thank you, for coming down here. I appreciate it," he said, shaking his cousin's hand.

Manny nodded, "Yeah, well, that's part of the job. Take care of yourself."

* * *

"So he's finally gone?" Brooke asked, opening the door to her boyfriend's dorm room to reveal just her boyfriend, no cousin beside him.

Kyle stood up, "Yeah, he said it was about time he headed home to take care of things there."

"So, everything's safe now?" she asked hopefully. Brooke had tried to stick by the man she loved and had tried to act like this wasn't that big of a deal. But the thought of mobsters and guns and ransom was enough to make her wake up in a cold sweat. Obviously she had been watching too many reruns of the Sopranos.

He sighed, "Let's hope so. Manny left some people down here to keep an eye on things, but other than that, I think we're good." Brooke let out the relieved sigh and gave him a fierce hug.

"Now I don't have to worry so much anymore," she whispered.

He smiled, "Yeah, now I guess we can get on with our lives and not have this much heavy stuff weighing on us."

"Yup. Now all you need to worry about is your basketball game this Friday."

Kyle groaned, "Which reminds me, I have practice early tomorrow morning." It was weird to jump to stuff as intense as mob violence and go straight to something like basketball. Not that the sport wasn't important, but it wasn't life threatening.

"Don't complain. I have cheer practice too," Brooke said, remembering the torture she would have to endure by the bitchy captain.

"Well," Kyle started, wrapping his arms around her, "I think we should get some sleep."

Brooke kinked her eyebrow, "Sleep? I thought you were thinking something else," she pouted. Kyle held her face in his hands and gave her a lingering kiss.

"I was, I just didn't want you to think that I was."

"Always the gentleman. That's what I love about you," Brooke said.

"Really? I just thought it was because I was hot," he said innocently. It was a good thing that Lucas decided to crash at Nathan and Haley's. This would've definitely bothered him.

"Well, there's that too," she said, sneakily riding her hands up his shirt as she whipped it over his head. "Then there's the fact that you're loving, understanding, and I know no matter what, you will always take care of me."

"I think you're giving me way too much credit," he said, nibbling her neck.

Brooke snickered, "I don't think so. Now tell me why you love me!" she said.

"Can we talk about this later?" he asked, slipping her bra strap over her shoulder.

"Nope," she said simply. "Tell me why you love me."

Kyle sighed, "Okay, I love you because you hold other people above yourself. Not once do you ever think of yourself first. You make me laugh, and you have the most amazing heart."

"Is that it?" she asked, the ever so hot eyebrow kinked.

He smirked, "Oh, and there's the fact that you are absolutely gorgeous. That kind of helps."

"Oh I love you Kyle Sammett," she said. "I hope it'll always be this way." Brooke meant 'this way' by how they were right now. Two people, completely in love with each other, and handling their problems head on and solving them. That was a relationship. That was everything she had wanted, and now she finally had it.

Kyle looked at her deeply, "I love you, Brooke Davis. And for the record, as long as I'm still here, I'll always be loving you. No matter what happens."

"Nothing's going to happen though, right? We'll always be together?" she asked, more for herself than for him. It was hard to imagine life where Kyle wasn't apart of it.

"Of course," he said. "Now that we got that settled, I think you were just about to kiss me."

Brooke kissed him, but not without feeling a sense of accomplishment. And for some reason, she felt stronger than ever when she was with Kyle right now. Like they were one, and not in just the sexual sense. She felt like something good was happening, and her life was no longer going day by day. Plans filled her head, things that she probably wouldn't be able to remember the next day, but would stay right in her heart and mind.

They wouldn't resurface for awhile though. It was too consuming of a night to think of anything else but him.

* * *

Just when he thought that he heard the last of these types of requests, he was called back into his boss' office. It was during the same time of day, with the same request of his presence in the office to discuss 'private matters.' It didn't surprise him. Not one bit. He just didn't expect it.

It had been a good year and a half since he had heard of the Giovanni family, and he was hoping that he wouldn't hear of them again. But no, it wasn't. His boss was unsuccessful that night, and when he's unsuccessful, he won't stop until he takes care of it.

"You wanted to see me?" he asked professionally. Truthfully the man scared the living daylights out of him, but he learned that the more scared you acted, the more scary the man became. So he tried his best not to be that fearful of his life everytime he was face to face with Lorenzo Rosali.

"Remember the last time I called you in here?" he asked absent mindedly. He was sitting at his desk, feet propped up, a Zippo lighter in his hand. He was flicking it on and off, not even concerned by the fact that the fire was inches from his face. The man was truly crazy.

Nikolas cleared his throat awkwardly. "Uhm, yes. You told me to put a hit and run on Brooke Davis."

Lorenzo nodded his head knowingly, "That's right, I did. It's been awhile since that night. You're a very intelligent man, Nikolas. It's one of the reasons why I hired you. You know why I called you in here."

"You want me to run someone else over tonight," he said assumingly. Nikolas wasn't going to lie. He knew he was good at his job. It was an area that he had been especially trained in, and he took care of it very well. It was absolutely clean hits, with no trace of evidence. The sky was the limit on his paycheck.

"Not exactly," he said, his feet touching the carpeted floor with a thud. He walked around his desk and stood in front of Nikolas. "I want you to kill someone tonight."

Nikolas gulped nervously, "Who?"

Lorenzo chuckled softly to himself. "I've been doing a lot of thinking. I remembered that one night whenever I challenged Kyle. I told him to take up his guns and try to play with the big boys. And he proved himself, I must admit. But like I thought, he wasn't ready. He didn't have the balls to stick with his decision."

"So you want to kill Kyle this time?" Nikolas asked. He knew the boy's name. He knew of his history, and his importance. In his own preference, Nikolas didn't like knowing a lot about the people he was set out to kill. It made the action come with a little less guilt. But when your target is the prime organizational enemy of your organization, it was known fact that you would know about the Giovannis.

"Nope," he said lightly. "At first that was my intention. It makes perfect sense, doesn't it? Kill the one person that is causing me the most problem at the moment. But I realized that Kyle's not the one that's causing me the most problem. I mean, sure, he got away with killing and injuring a few of my men, but what else has he done? Nothing. Absolutely nothing, and for the moment he's not a nuisance to me. Right now Kyle has nothing to do with the organization. I have to hit the people most in on the operation, and Kyle's not one of them. Not by a longshot." He flicked the lighter shut.

He hated when his boss did things like this. Drag out the point of the conversation. To try to make himself feel more important and dangerous, he assumed. He didn't understand why though, the man's very aura was enough to scare the shit out of anyone, including himself.

"If you don't want to kill Kyle, then who is it?"

"Tonight, you're going to kill Emmanuel Giovanni."


End file.
